All the Locked Doors
by The Girl With the Puff Hat
Summary: Alec is Magnus' favorite author. Magnus is Alec's favorite musician. They share a love of art and the coffee shop on the corner, and for a while, everything seems to be perfect. But when catastrophe strikes, the Lightwoods and company have bigger problems on their hands. Malec AU, all human. Some Clace, Heline, Heronstairs, and Sizzy because I felt like it.
1. A Day in the Life of Alec Lightwood

**Chapter One: A Day in the Life of Alec Lightwood**

Alec stretched his arms over his head, arching his back into the stretch. The rising sun glittered through his window, and as he blinked its light out of his eyes, the cold black face of his computer glared steadily back at him. _Crap_. He was supposed to be _writing_. The only problem? He hadn't been able to come up with any good ideas since his parents' divorce, and if he didn't get back to work, the deadline would hit him across the face.

He groaned, swung himself out of bed, and stumbled down the hall to the kitchen. He couldn't function until he'd had some coffee, which resulted in him watching boredly as it poured into his mug. He figured he could waste the day designing characters… he did have an entire sketchbook to fill.

Content with this plan, Alec went back to his room, got out his art supplies, and returned to the kitchen table, where he sat and flipped to the first page of his sketchbook. The white paper taunted him. He was about to resort to blind scribbling when his phone rang. Was it just him, or was the ringtone ten times louder this morning? He looked at the caller, expecting his manager, and was surprised to find a picture of his little sister, Isabelle, laughing up at him from the screen.

"Hey," he said, answering.

"_Aaaleeeeccc_," she sang into the receiver. "Guess what _daaayyyyy_ it is?"

"The beginning of the apocalypse?" Alec asked irritably, holding the phone away from his ear. When Izzy sighed, he brought the device closer. "No? Then what is it?"

"It's _Tuesday_!" Isabelle announced, as though that was the best thing in the world.

"So?" Alec was exceptionally confused. "Is there something happening today?"

"No," Izzy said, somewhat more abashed. "But there can be. Whaddaya say we meet Jace for breakfast or something?"

Alec glanced forlornly down at his blank sketchbook. Unfortunately, no amazing drawings had magically appeared in the time it had taken to talk to his sister.

"I don't see why not," he relented. She squealed in glee.

"The usual spot, then, in fifteen minutes! I love you, big brother!" She hung up. Alec put his book away and went to change out of his pajamas, putting on a black sweater and gray jeans. He paused to look in the mirror before he left, wondering if it was worth the brain activity it would take to brush his black hair out of his face. Izzy would want to see his eyes; she'd always insisted Alec had a rare and beautiful shade of blue eyes that he should be proud of. Alec didn't care much. It wasn't like the color of his eyes affected the quality of his vision. If he could see, why should he give a damn about letting other people see his eyes?

On the drive to the café, he half-listened to the angry-sounding Gerard Way singing on the radio. He saw Jace getting out of his car a few yards away, meeting Isabelle, who stood outside. Alec joined his siblings and they entered the shop. Izzy chatted familiarly with the redheaded girl behind the register, continuing their conversation even when she turned to make their coffees. Alec realized he'd already had a cup of coffee this morning, but brushed it off. It wasn't like it would kill him.

Two more people entered the cafe behind them: a pretty white-haired woman with a bluish tint to her skin, and a shortish man with equally white hair and almost greenish skin. They were bickering about something that sounded music-related. Alec shook his head, annoyed at the way the light from the windows made them look like warlocks or something. He watched Izzy and the redhead barista exchange phone numbers when she handed over their coffees, and rolled his eyes. Trust Isabelle Lightwood to make a new friend at nine in the morning at a coffee shop. Hell, she'd probably befriend a vampire if she got the chance. She came and sat down across from him, next to Jace, whom she handed the slip of paper with the redhead's number to. He grinned thankfully.

"So, Alec, how's your book coming?" Izzy asked casually. Alec wanted to slam his head against the table.

"Not well," he said. "I have a sort of plot idea, but I can't come up with any characters for it."

"New character block?" She frowned sympathetically. "You aren't ever going to write a sequel to _All the Locked Doors_? Everyone wants that. You can't just leave Killian and Mala hanging like you did at the end."

"Yes, I can. I'm the author, Iz," he said in a lower voice. "I don't want to break their world with a sequel. I want to write something _different_."

"But _Alec_," she complained professionally. "_All the Locked Doors_."

"What about it?"

"It's, like, one of the best books to exist in the world," his sister insisted. "I don't know where you got inspiration for it, but it's _epic_. And I'm not just saying that. You do remember when it was released, right?"

Alec thought back to it. _All the Locked Doors_ was his third book, a stand-alone novel about two men, one from the human world and one from the High Kingdom (which was his name for the realm of the angels), who meet by accident and embark on a forbidden quest to bring equality to both their worlds. He wondered how much thought Izzy and Jace had put into the fact that the main character was gay. He hoped they wouldn't connect that to his own haphazardly hidden sexuality. He remembered how much the people had liked it, how much they'd asked for a sequel. He remembered lying on his bed and grinning as Magnus Bane songs blasted through his house and heart and soul. He remembered wondering if it was normal to be so well-liked, so _famous_ (he shuddered at the word) and still be obsessed with famous musicians like Magnus Bane.

"Yes, of course. But I don't know if I can write a sequel to _All the Locked Doors_, Iz, I don't. I'm trying something new. Maybe a post-apocalyptic, hidden-magic style this time."

"Ooh, _forbidden_ magic," Izzy grinned, sipping her drink. "What if the main character is called to fight the bad guys and realizes that one of them has magic too? What if they realize they'll both be executed if they go back, so they trade and each go back as a prisoner to the other's base or whatever, and can't stop thinking about—"

"Isabelle, I don't know if I want to write a love story," Alec said shortly.

"Alexander Gideon Lightwood, you would be insane not to. You underestimate your talents. I remember reading _All the Locked Doors_, and the romantic subplot was _perfect_. You have natural gifts in the writing world, mister. Don't let them go to waste."

"Yes, your majesty," he smirked, taking a long sip of his coffee, relishing its bitter, uninterrupted taste. Most people didn't like coffee without changing some aspect of it. Alec knew better than anyone what it was like to feel pulled in all directions, so he felt like he owed it to coffee to not act like his fellow humans. No matter how dark and bitter coffee was, he accepted it that way. _Wow, that was pathetic. An acceptance speech for coffee_, Alec thought, glad for not the first time that telepathy was impossible.

"This is all well and good, but did you _see_ the last episode of—" Jace said passionately to Izzy, and the two got talking about some show Alec didn't watch. He looked out the window in the general direction of the park, wanting to go out and paint, to do something besides develop characters and write nonsensical short stories to 'spark creativity.' His eyes caught on a tall man across the street, who seemed to be looking right at him. Wanting to escape, he finished off his coffee, said a hasty goodbye to his siblings, and exited the shop. He pulled his earbuds out of his pocket and plugged them in, hitting shuffle on a random playlist of Magnus Bane songs. The first one that came up was called _Enough is Enough,_ and it was one of the first Bane songs Alec had listened to and subsequently fallen in love with. As the smooth voice and braided instruments twisted through his ears, he found himself heading back to his apartment to get a canvas and paints.

Alec set up his easel on a flat hilltop. The distance beckoned: green grass wet with dew that shone like glitter in the morning sun, blue and purple mountains far off, penetrating the loosely dispersed clouds. It was breathtaking. He took a picture on his phone, but after inspecting it, he deleted it. It was impossible to capture moments.

Alicante Bridge always sliced right through the perfect painting, making it impossible to capture the entire range… unless Alec wanted to keep lugging his easel back and forth between the two flat hilltops. Which he didn't. So he contented himself with half the full image. He figured he was doing it more justice this way: letting it continue to exist, unencumbered, nowhere except here. This was part of the reason Alec didn't want to write a sequel to _All the Locked Doors_. It existed _there_, in that perfect microcosm, and he didn't want to re-enter that world for fear of tainting it as dull as the clothes he wore.

He thought again of why he chose to live like a person instead of like the rich author he was. He could afford to live someplace grand, in a massive house he could spend years living in and not notice several rooms. He figured it was because he didn't like drawing attention to himself, why the name on his books was Alexander Lightwood and the name he gave his peers, which he rarely did, was always nothing more than Alec.

He painted until the sun was high enough in the sky that the image had lost its magic, had turned mundane. He wished he wasn't the only person who ever came to admire the view from the hilltop here, wished to have someone who would honor the memory if and when Alec had to uproot and move to start somewhere else. He meticulously put his paints and brushes away and sat down, wiping his hands on his jeans. He wished he had some silver glitter to toss against the wet paint; that would surely capture the glinting droplets of the dew on the grass.

He looked to the side and saw a man standing on the hilltop opposite him. The man was standing, tense, looking out at the world with a desperate air about him, looking like he was trying to inhale the scenery as though it was the last thing he would ever see. He glanced at Alec, and the sunlight glinted off his eyes in a way it really shouldn't be doing. The blue woman and the green man from the coffee shop came up behind the stranger, and the green man handed him a cup. The man took it and raised it to his lips, and then his hand began to shake and he dropped it. The lid came off and coffee burst onto the ground and onto the trio's feet. The colorful couple flinched back.

The man remained unmoving.

When Alec arrived home with his almost-finished painting, he went straight to his blank sketchbook. He took a charcoal stick and began to sketch, mind only half there. He drew in silhouette, as he couldn't pin down features, but when he was done he'd drawn a sort of creature, relatively human shaped, with a crown of spikes for hair, a ball of flame hovering above one hand, and glinting cat eyes, staring ominously up at him from the paper.

He flipped the page and drew a deeper sketch of the same silhouette, this time only the waist and up. This time the cat eyes surfaced from his sketch lines again, as did the spiky hair and the hand summoning fire. His earbuds lobbed Magnus Bane lyrics at him. It took him barely a second to identify the song: _Are You Here_?

_All these lights and all these colors_

_It's the kind of thing that makes me wonder_

_If we don't belong, then why are we here?_

_I step onto the stage blinking tears and_

_Stardust from my eyes_

_All this gloom and all this darkness_

_It's the kind of thing that keeps me harnessed_

_When it all burns down, why is it so beautiful?_

Alec swayed to the music. He flipped another page and drew only the cat eyes, wide and fearful, tears and glitter spilling from them. Then he stopped and looked at all three of the drawings slowly, critically. He found nothing really wrong with them. They weren't comic material, no, but they captured the essence of something like a dreamcatcher.

"That's it!" Alec exclaimed, a new story idea crashing into his head like a tsunami. He needed a hero and he needed a villain, otherwise there would be no story to tell. But as he looked down at the cat-eyed man, whom he'd internally dubbed Dreamcatcher, he wondered if perhaps one character could be both. It would be a step away from his usual writing style, but he knew it was better than nothing. He opened his computer, created a new document, and began to write.


	2. A Day in the Life of Magnus Bane

_A/N: I should've mentioned before, probably, that I don't own the stuff Cassandra Clare owns. to do that, I'd have to be Cassandra Clare, and while that would be pretty epic, it is not the case. I own Alec's book and Magnus's songs, but other than that... nada. Have a great day._

Magnus regarded his orange slice. You never could tell, he knew, whether an orange was going to be good or not. It was risky business, eating oranges.

"Hey, Mags! Cat and I are going to go get coffee. Want anything?" Ragnor Fell, his pesky best friend, hollered from the doorway.

"Usual," he answered, holding the orange slice at a different angle. He turned to his cat. "Chairman, do you suppose this orange is deserving of being eaten by my magnificent self?" Chairman Meow, like the fluff ball he was, did not answer. Magnus reminded himself in his head that you only live once and took a bite out of the orange slice. It was delicious.

"This is going to be a good day," he decided. He'd been up late last night scribbling lyrics in his songbook, which was actually a regular neon pink notebook that read _I Tried To Be Good But I Got Bored_ on the front cover that he'd acquired for the purpose of writing down midnight ideas. He had three songs to finalize and clear with his producer before he could release his new album, _Glitter_. It was safe to say, he thought smugly, that Magnus Bane was on a roll.

He looked up from the orange he'd been devouring to gaze around his loft. There were many bookshelves arranged on the multicolored walls, each bookshelf painted a shade of the same color corresponding to each room. The living room, being a pretty light green, was accented by forest green bookshelves and olive furniture, while the kitchen was a gorgeous mess of purples and lilacs and the open foyer space, where Magnus sat now, was yellows and golds. His favorite bookshelf rested against the wall across from him. Why was this his favorite bookshelf, you might ask? Well, it was his favorite because he kept all of his favorite books there. Books by a various selection of authors, but most importantly, _Alexander Lightwood_. Magnus didn't even know what the author looked like, but he imagined him being hot. Obviously. Because nobody could write so well and not be beautiful.

He called Aline, his manager, and made small talk with her while she finalized his schedule. He had no doubt she was talking in sign language with her wife Helen while on the phone with him, just like he was reading _All the Locked Doors_ while talking to her. He knew it by heart, so it wasn't like he had to look down at the pages, but there was no thrill in the tense scenes if the words weren't there in front of him, urging him forward as though _he_ was the one holding the key to the Lower Kingdom, as though the skin on _his_ hand was being slowly burnt away with every breath he took, as though _he_ was holding Mala by the wrist—_god, no, stop, he's a fictional character, Magnus_—and defending him with his life. There was no part of Magnus that didn't die a little bit more every time he read this perfect book.

Aline told him he had a few days to relax before anything important fell on his glittery head, so he thanked her and hung up.

"Chairman, I need help with lyrics," he yelled to his cat. "What sounds better? _Waking up and rolling over to find / that you've stopped breathing…_ no, not breathing. Shining? _You've stopped shining in the night_… glowing?" He looked toward the cat for confirmation. Chairman licked his paw and dragged it over his head, making his white fur stick up even more. Magnus smiled. "Glowing it is."

_My biggest fear_

_Is waking up and rolling over to find_

_That you've stopped glowing in the night _

_Is it just a dream?_

_My biggest fear_

_Is seeing the sun come up to illuminate_

_A world where you're no longer here._

Magnus wrote down the lyrics with a smirk and clapped the book closed. He reshelved _All the Locked Doors_ and went to his bedroom—which was a combination of all the colors of the rainbow—to get dressed. He pulled on skintight deep purple leather pants, a crimson shirt with thin black stripes, and a sparkly gold vest that caught and filtered every drop of sunlight. He put a multitude of earrings in: silver arrows, one in each ear, a green and blue feather in his left ear and silver loop chains in the right. He spiked his hair up with an ungodly amount of gel and dumped an even more ungodly amount of glitter in it, and all over his skin and outfit too. He decided to match his makeup today, applying blue gloss with blue eyeshadow and black liner. He was feeling—and _looking_—magnificent as he strode outside, shimmery platform boots making satisfying clomping sounds on the stairs.

"Where shall I go today?" He said aloud. "I don't have too much time on this vacation from the paparazzi. I ought to enjoy nature."

Magnus made his way to downtown Alicante, snickering when he came across an advertisement for his own concert next month. He took a selfie in front of the ad and sent it to Ragnor and Catarina.

As soon as the text went through, he stopped in front of a coffee shop on a corner. Ragnor and Catarina were standing inside, obviously waiting for their orders. A tall young man sat with a blond man and a woman at a table little ways in front of them. The dark-haired man glanced out the window, and a panic attack went off like fireworks in his eyes. Magnus ducked out of sight, assuming the man had recognized him. He took a few minutes to compose himself, then walked in a random direction, letting his feet carry him.

Magnus soon came upon a park separated by Alicante Bridge. There were two flat hilltops on either side, rising gently from the swath of trees. He noticed a silhouette on the hill to the left of the bridge, standing in front of an easel and painting what looked eerily similar to the view in front of them, so good it was like he'd taken a photo. He watched the man paint for a while, watching the smooth motions of his arms as he guided the brush along, the relaxed curve of his body and the way he stood, unafraid against the light. He looked to be made of the air and sky around him. He looked as though he belonged. Magnus suddenly felt unsteady. He may have been hot and he may have been famous, but he was never comfortable in the moment, the way this young man appeared to be. He felt an urge to write a song about it.

He climbed the empty hill and looked off at the mountains in the distance. The city of Alicante was nestled below these gorgeous blue and purple mountains, which the sun rose behind every morning. Magnus couldn't deny that he wished he had a canvas and some paints so he could paint the view from this side of the bridge, so that at least something could be complete in the shambles he'd just discovered in himself.

The man looked over at him briefly, but his gaze didn't linger, and Magnus turned away, almost jumping when Ragnor and Catarina approached from behind him. Ragnor handed him a hot cup of coffee, which he accepted gratefully.

"Thanks, Rags."

"De nada, Mags."

"No Spanish, that reminds me of—"

"Peru?" Ragnor guessed, chuckling. "Magnus, we're not banned from the entire continent of South America, right? We could always go to, like, Bolivia or something."

"Too painful," Magnus sniffed disdainfully. He cast another glance at the man on the other hilltop and found that he was watching them, with the purest blue eyes he'd ever seen. Magnus' hand shook suddenly, and he dropped his coffee. It spilled on his feet, splashing onto Cat and Ragnor too, but they were the only ones who flinched. Magnus was too utterly transfixed to notice.

Later that day, back in his loft, Magnus sat at his desk and tapped his pencil on the paper in front of him. Words and colors flowed around his head, but none caught his attention, as everything else was bodily shoved out of his immediate view by those blue eyes. He began to scribble with his pencil, mapping out the shape of what looked like a face, framed by scruffy hair. He knew his hand was tracing out the face of the blue-eyed man before he even stopped to think about it.

Artistic inspiration struck with more intensity than lightning. Magnus found another random piece of paper and, using his unremarkable (but very glittery) mechanical pencil, drew the outline of the mountains he'd seen earlier, the sky a spectacle around them. Then the eyes took shape over top of the landscape, taking up most of the page, and Magnus erased the lines of the mountains so that the only remnants of the sketched world remained visible in the eyes. He drew eyeshadow on the piece in the shape of clouds with a flock of birds on one side, and the sun on the other. Then he paused and scrutinized it.

"Chairman, I might become a philosopher," he told his uninterested cat proudly, and almost stood up to go retrieve All the Locked Doors with the thought of reading it again for the seven hundredth time. When Chairman Meow got in the way, he halted and looked over at his songbook. A melody was threading through his head, a melody that magnetically drew words from his mind. Magnus sat down again. He opened his notebook, flipped to a new page, and began to write.


	3. You Look Like Deja Vu

The next morning, Alec decided to return to the coffee shop on the corner. He didn't know why, but he'd come up with a new character after visiting it, and you couldn't go wrong with their coffee. He sat now at a table that didn't immediately draw attention: far enough away from the door to be hidden but not secluded enough to be shady. He was sipping his black coffee and drawing again, but this time it was a woman in shades of gray, with a veil over her face and crimson hair.

He was only pulled from his fictional world when there came the screeching sound of chair legs on the floor and a smack as a plastic cup was slammed down on the table in front of him. The drink inside was horrifyingly rainbow. Alec looked up, meeting the smiling golden-green eyes of a man with gorgeous caramel skin and spiked-up black hair.

"I know, I know: I shouldn't drink this. It's artificial and bad for me and everyone thinks it'll make the drinker turn gay… unfortunately for them you can't get much gayer than me, so I think I'm safe."

Alec, astounded, just gaped up at the man, taking in his odd appearance. The hair seemed to be gelled up into the shape of a crown, and there were streaks of pink, blue, and purple in it, along with—holy shit, was that _glitter?_ He had a magnificently slender body, clothed in a dark blue and silver sequined shirt and a leather jacket with gems on the seams, and bright lilac pants that were so tight they had to have been painted on. The whole look was completed with multiple flashy necklaces and so many earrings it was like he'd been decorating his body like a Christmas tree.

"Speechless?" The man mused teasingly, sliding into the seat across from Alec. Glitter spilled out of his hair and off his shoulders with every movement.

"I-I, um," Alec said, sitting back in his seat. "Who are you?"

"I should think you'd know, since you did look completely horrified when you saw me out this very window yesterday around this time."

"I thought you were someone I knew," Alec muttered, not wanting to mention that the _someone_ he'd thought the man was happened to be a famous musician.

"Really? I don't look like a lot of people. If you can name someone besides me who could pull this outfit off, I'd like to have lunch with them." He leaned on the back of his chair with one elbow, slouching in a ridiculously sexy way and shedding more glitter.

"Glitter," Alec finally managed to say around the bonfire consuming his face.

"Yes?"

"You're shedding."

"No, my cat does that. Do I look like a cat?" The man raised an eyebrow. Alec scrutinized him, and when he looked at his eyes he saw the glint of slitted pupils between pools of gold and green, just like the eyes in his drawing. He wanted to say yes, that the man did in fact bear a resemblance to a cat, but instead he just took a sip of his coffee and muttered a soft 'no.'

"Pity," the man shrugged.

"What are you doing?" Alec wondered suddenly. "I don't even know your name."

"You've probably heard it somewhere before," the man still looked unconcerned. A fuzz from somewhere floated by his head, and he batted at it. "Magnus is my name. You?"

"Alec," Alec replied, feeling foolish as he did so.

"That short for anything? _Alexander_, perhaps?" Magnus purred. Alec struggled to remove the association with cats from his mind.

"Yes, actually, but really, I prefer to be called Alec."

"Wonderful, Alexander," Magnus grinned like the Cheshire Cat. Alec almost groaned. He couldn't believe how catlike this man seemed, now that he thought about it. In fact, Alec wouldn't have been surprised if he shapeshifted into a cat and sauntered away as they spoke.

"Alec," he corrected.

"But Alexander is the name of one of my favorite authors. I don't know anyone named Alexander except for you. Besides, it's a delicious name," Magnus added, casting a sidelong glance at Alec with the last part. Alec found himself blushing more now than he had in years.

"Well, Magnus is the name of one of my favorite singers," he said vaguely. "We have that much in common." He hoped to god that Magnus wouldn't figure out that Alec was Alexander Lightwood, and then hoped even more that this man in front of him wasn't Magnus Bane. That would be like a story he could write, but life wasn't like that.

"It's been lovely, Alexander. I will see you around. I must finish up my gay drink and get on my way, but it was enchanting to meet you," he called as he left, raising the horrific rainbow smoothie into the air as a final goodbye. Alec took a long moment to catch the Taylor Swift reference before he put his head in his arms and sighed, taking a sip of his black coffee. It was suddenly a bit too bitter. He opened his sketchbook and drew the glittery, catlike man, hands braced on a table in front of him, his purple-glossed lips quirking up into a ravishing, malicious smile. Then, feeling in the mood for irony, he titled the drawing _The Bane of My Existence._

* * *

Magnus almost hummed to himself as he strolled along the streets of Alicante. He hadn't gotten to bring up the park, but he was fairly certain that Alec was the same person who'd been painting so beautifully the day before. It was a fabulous coincidence that the gorgeous boy was named Alexander, and if he'd said his name was Alexander Lightwood, Magnus would've believed him in a heartbeat. Then he realized Alec had never said he _wasn't_ Alexander Lightwood.

_You're being stupid, Magnus. This isn't a fairytale_, he thought irritably, but retrieved his sparkly phone from his pocket and looked up Alexander Lightwood. As he'd imagined, the first website that popped up was suggesting that Magnus purchase his books. Magnus would've done this if he hadn't already owned every one. He clicked on images, but they were mostly of the book covers, except one: a selfie, taken by a girl in her late teens, with a smirking golden-haired man and a grouchy-looking black-haired man. The latter was undoubtedly Alec, and the link on the image took him to the Instagram of _Isabelle Lightwood._ Magnus remembered one of Alexander's books being dedicated to an Izzy, and figured this was as close as he was going to get. He scrolled through, finding multiple pictures of Isabelle with a redheaded girl (hadn't she been the barista?) and of Isabelle in various outfits, but couldn't find any more of Alec. He clicked the button to follow Isabelle.

_I'll talk to that barista tomorrow_, he decided, _see if I can meet this Isabelle Lightwood person_.

Satisfied with his plan, Magnus held up his gay drink, smirked, and took a picture. He posted it under _just met a boy who makes me gayer than this drink ever could_ with a winky face and a peace sign. Almost immediately, comments started appearing, asking who the hell he meant and where he was. He ignored them all.

* * *

Isabelle and Simon were lying on their backs on the grass in the park, chatting. Well, Simon was doing most of the talking, and Isabelle was laughing with him and looking at her phone. A notification popped up that said _ magnificentbane _had followed her. Against her better judgement and falling prey to the same trap luring in teens across the world, she opened the app to check it out. The profile picture was the face of a grinning man wearing flawless sparkly makeup, his hair spiky and also full of glitter.

"Hey, Si? Do you know who Magnus Bane is?" She asked her companion. He looked sideways at her.

"Iz, anyone who knows anything at all knows Magnus Bane," he answered.

"_I've got me, myself, and GLITTER!_" They both sang gleefully, then laughed.

"Anyway, I think he just followed me on Instagram," she explained, showing him her phone. Then she inspected the selfie of who she assumed to be Magnus holding a cup with a rainbow drink and smirking. "Wait. He's here in Alicante. That cup has an Alicafé logo on it. Oh god, Alec's gonna _freak out._" She called her big brother, waiting tersely for him to pick up. When he did, she practically screamed in his ear: "_Alexander Lightwood, Magnus Bane is in Alicante! He was at Alicafe today! Have you seen him?"_

Alec paused in what she assumed to be awkward, stunned silence before he responded. "Well, I mean, I had a conversation with a super glittery guy earlier today who said his name was Magnus…."

"Alec." Izzy said, deathly serious. "Does he know who you are?"

"I hope not. He knows my name is Alexander but I didn't mention anything about Lightwood."

"Well then why did he suddenly follow me on Instagram?"

Alec apparently didn't have a response for that. She could hear his confusion through the phone. She wondered if she should tell her brother the text underneath the image of Magnus Bane with his rainbow drink, but decided not to in the end.

"I don't know, Iz. Whatever. Have a nice day," Alec said dismissively, and hung up. Isabelle stared at her phone for another minute, then PMed Magnus: _If you are who I think you are, you'd better have a really good excuse for following me. _

_Darling_, the reply came not a moment later, _I think I am who you think I am, and I also think I have just about the best excuse in the world_.

_Which is what?_ Isabelle typed, on high alert.

_Your brother._


	4. Defensive Sisters and Serial Killers

**A/N: Still have no idea what I'm doing, but it's fun. Also still not Cassandra Clare... working on that... ;)**

The next day, Magnus returned to Alicafe. Alec wasn't there, but the redhead barista was. Due to the fact that the place was virtually empty, Magnus loped right over to the counter and leaned against it with both hands.

"Hello, what can I get you?" The redhead asked politely, coming over to the register.

"A conversation, if you please," Magnus replied. "Do you know this woman? Or any of these people?" He showed her the selfie of the black-haired woman with the two men.

"Yeah, that's Izzy, Jace, and Alec," she said in surprise. "Why?"

"Izzy as in…?" Magnus prompted.

"Isabelle Lightwood?" The redhead said slowly. Lightwood. Good. Magnus was onto something. The redhead continued, "Wait. Hold on. Izzy called me yesterday and said that Magnus Bane had talked to her. Do you have something to do with that?"

Magnus just subtly winked at her. Well, he would've liked to say it was subtle, but she definitely noticed, so he might as well have lowered one glittery eyelid in slow motion. "I suppose you heard about the talk, then, and what Magnus Bane wanted?"

"Izzy said Magnus talked about her brother, but I can't imagine how that's possible—Alec would've mentioned… I mean, he's obsessed with—" she cut herself off, eyes widening in horror as she took Magnus in from a new angle. "Holy shit."

He simply smiled, glancing down at her nametag. "Thanks, Clary."

"But really, do you want a coffee or not?" She asked, recovering from her shock quickly.

"I'm good, actually," Magnus drawled. He dropped a twenty into her tip jar and turned on his heel to exit the café. He could feel Clary's eyes on his shoulders as he walked, and he waved at her over his head. The door dinged as he stepped out. He only made it half a block and subsequently tripped over a black booted foot. The boot was equipped with at least six inch heels. He opened his mouth to either apologize or snap at the woman—he hadn't decided yet—but before the words could escape, they were stopped in his throat by a sudden hand, clasping around his neck. A black-haired woman pinned him against the wall and held him there, arm straight, eyes fierce.

"You have five seconds to start talking. What do you want with my baby brother?"

Magnus gasped for breath. "Generally people need oxygen to speak," he informed her.

"I had no idea," Isabelle said sarcastically, slightly lessening the pressure on Magnus' airway.

"That's horrible," he said. "Someone should've told you." He turned to a random passerby. "Tell her people need oxygen to speak."

The person hurried away, rolling his eyes. Magnus pulled Isabelle's hand from his neck and shook his shoulders. "Okay, look, I don't know what you're talking about. If your brother's name is Alec, and if he has black hair and blue eyes, I want to get to know him better. If not, I'm not sure what I want with your 'baby brother.' How much older are you?"

"Actually, Alec's two years older than me," Izzy admitted with a smile. "I just call him baby brother because he's so innocent and clueless about people sometimes." Magnus grinned back, and she slammed him into the wall again. "What do you want with him?"

"What do you want with me?" He demanded. "Do you know who I am?"

"Yes, of course. You're Magnus Bane, the most famous and well-liked musician this side of Idris. People like you don't just want to get to know people like Alec. But…" she tapped a shimmering fingernail on his nose. "Because I like you, I suppose I'll give you a chance."

Magnus opened his mouth to speak, but no words came. Eventually he just took a breath and smiled at Isabelle. "How sweet of you. Now, perhaps you'll let me buy you a coffee?"

"You say that like I'll stop you," she grinned, and followed him back into the shop.

"I dunno, you look like you could," he shot back.

"Please," she rolled her eyes, "I'm not going to say no to free coffee. Oh, hi, Clary!" She leaned across the counter and kissed the redhead on the cheek.

"Back so soon, Magnus?" She wondered with a rather cruel smirk.

"We both know you texted Isabelle to tell her I'd been here. I made it halfway down the block before she tripped me."

"What can I say? These heels are lethal," Isabelle smiled. Magnus, as promised, paid for her coffee as well as his own rainbow smoothie, and they went to sit down. Magnus couldn't say he wasn't surprised that she hadn't gone full-out fangirl on him. He'd had an... experience with something like that in Peru, and it had ended with cauliflower everywhere, a malfunctioning chocolate fountain, and a hell of a lot of glitter.

"So, my brother," she urged. "What brought this on?"

"Met a cute guy here yesterday morning. Came over to talk to him. He says his name's Alec, says it's short for Alexander, and doesn't tell me anything about himself. Naturally I'm intrigued at this point, right, and my favorite author in the world is named Alexander, so I looked up Alexander Lightwood, and there was a picture of you, Alec, and a blond dude. The link on the picture went to your Instagram, where I learned that your name was Isabelle Lightwood. And you know the rest." He clasped his hands on the table. Izzy stared at him, silent.

"My big brother is your favorite author." She seemed disbelieving. "But you're his favorite singer. This is completely ridiculous." She was grinning. "I'm fangirling over the fact that you fangirl over Alec and that Alec fangirls over you." She giggled. "Magnus freaking Bane, do you have any idea the position you put me in? I can't just go up to Alec and say I _met_ you!"

"Why not? I am here for a concert. Early, yes, but I am. It's not super unrealistic for us to bump into each other, right? For all he knows, we could've met trying to buy the same shoes at the mall… speaking of which, _where_ did you get those?"

Isabelle leaned forward in her seat, eyes lighting up. He could see he'd passed her test. They chatted long after their coffee cups were empty, and exchanged stories, laughter, and phone numbers by the time Izzy had to go. She gathered her stuff up and stood.

"Oh, Magnus… next time, I'm buying you coffee." She flashed a grin at him and blew out the door like a whirlwind. He sat back in his seat, positively dumbstruck. He found a pen in his pocket and began to scribble down lyrics on the inside of his forearm. Some he crossed out and replaced, others he left in his messy scrawl on his skin. It wasn't perfect, but it was definitely a song he could dance to. And call him crazy, but right then Magnus felt like he could dance to just about anything.

Alec was painting in the park again, losing his mind to the melodic action of pinning color to the blank white canvas. It felt good to be able to control something, no matter how fleeting that control was. He couldn't control much else, like his character block or the fact that his mind seemed to want to keep straying back to his conversation with Izzy. He'd avoided Alicafé that morning, maybe unintentionally, but part of him wondered if he'd see Magnus again, and if he'd be able to form a coherent sentence. _Woah, don't get ahead of yourself, Alec,_ he scolded himself, adding a streak of light blue to the left side of the mountain.

"Hey! You!" A gruff voice sounded behind him, and he turned to see the greenish man standing at the bottom of the hill, feet wide and hands in the pockets of his black jeans. His shirt read _#don't care_ and he sported a baseball cap that said _Not Dead_ over curling white hair.

"Hey me?" Alec asked, wary.

"Yes. You realize you made my best friend weird. People don't just _make_ Magnus weird. I don't know what's going on, but if he gets any weirder, I will automatically blame you and come to nuke your house myself." Then he half-smirked. "Ragnor Fell. And that's my name, so no falling puns. Lillith knows I get enough of those from Magnus and Cat."

"Um." Alec was impressed with his own ability to speak today. "Yeah, I don't know what you're talking about. Sorry."

"You were the one who looked at Magnus yesterday and made him drop his coffee on my new shoes," Ragnor said flatly. "He referred to you in his text messages as Mr. Blue Eyes and told me to make sure you weren't a serial killer."

"Why would he think I'm a serial killer?" Alec was bewildered. Ragnor grinned lazily at him, tilting his head to the side. The chains around his neck clinked.

"He doesn't," he sighed. "That was a joke. Which I figured would be funny unless you actually are a serial killer. In which case I should probably run away, right?"

"Yes, and I'll give you a five second head start," Alec told him with a straight face before turning around to continue with his painting. Ragnor did not move. "Okay, what do you actually want?"

"Your name."

"Alec."

"Short for Alexander?" Ragnor looked up at this. "Are you the same person who Magnus met in the coffee shop?"

"Why does Magnus talk to you about me so much? Why doesn't he come talk to me himself?" Alec asked, exasperated.

"Do you really want him to?" Ragnor smirked, raising his eyebrows. "Cause I do love to play matchmaker, in case you were wondering."

"What?" Alec's face burned. "No! I'm… what are you _talking_ about?"

"I give you a week before you figure it out on your own," Ragnor told him, then walked away. The back of his shirt said _#still don't care._

Alec wasn't sure what to make of their talk, and frankly, he wasn't sure he wanted to. He turned back to his painting. The colors didn't seem vibrant enough anymore. He plugged in his earbuds and hit shuffle on Magnus Bane songs.

_Raise a fist, this enchanted mist_

_Isn't going away_

_I think it's here to stay_

_Stronger than the thickest walls between us_

_Cause at least those have a door_

_I'm not me anymore_

_I can't see anymore, the tears_

_Just keep falling, and I_

_Just keep falling_.

And for the first time ever, Alec wildly wondered why so many of Magnus' songs seemed to mention doors.


	5. And We Meet Again

**It's Valentine's Day, so I'm feeling in the mood for some simply cute Malec interaction. Hope everyone had a nice day, and if not, feel free to bitch about it to me. I'm here. :)**

The next day, Alec decided to risk going back to Alicafé. He was half-hoping he'd see Magnus again… but then he wondered why he was even half hoping for such a thing. He should be _dreading_ it.

He ordered his usual black coffee and went to his usual table, opened his sketchbook and started on his usual morning routine of sketching and coming up with words to describe the resulting character. He ended up drawing the cat-eyed man again, in silhouette like usual, but when he came to write down words, he felt lost. He sat in silence for longer than he cared to admit, hearing the occasional ding of the door when someone else came in. After some time, however, the ding was accompanied by a joyous shout of "_Hello_, _Alexander!_"

"Hi, Magnus," Alec sighed resignedly as he closed his book.

"Oh no, don't stop what you were doing," he chastised. "I can keep you company and be perfectly silent! Watch me!" And with that, he slammed a book down on the table next to his rainbow drink and opened it to the beginning. Alec, examining the first few lines, realized that it was _All the Locked Doors_, and a chill wormed its way down his spine. He stared at Magnus reading his book—_his book_—for a few moments before the other man looked up in amusement.

"You don't have to actually watch me," he said sheepishly. "Really, Alexander, go back to what you were doing."

"No, no, it's fine. If you want to read, read, but you weren't, you know, interrupting my work or anything…" Alec cursed himself for stammering. Magnus looked up again and smiled, clapping the book closed.

"Won't you lose your place?" Alec asked, gesturing at the book.

"Nope. I have this baby memorized to the last comma. Besides, I've read it so many times that it doesn't make much of a difference if I start in the middle. Books are my happy place, you could say."

"Ah, well, music's mine," Alec offered a smile. "Most of the time I'll be listening to music while I work."

"You like art, too? Ragnor called me yesterday and told me he met you. I am so sorry you had to go through that," he grinned. "And I mourn the part of your soul that undoubtedly died when he first talked to you." At Alec's silence, he chuckled. "That's one thing we have in common, though: art. I love to draw."

Alec smiled. Maybe Magnus was an actual human being after all. "Good to know. But that's no excuse for this… whatever it is." He poked Magnus' drink like it was a rodent. "I looked up the ingredients. It's kind of scary what they put in this stuff."

"Obviously, darling. Drinks aren't just neon orange on their own." Magnus sipped the drink, smiling around the straw. Presently his lips were glossed dark blue with silver glitter, and—_by the Angel, Alec, don't think about his lips_. Magnus laughed and swirled the drink with the straw, causing the rainbow to spin in the cup.

"No, they must have some incentive to be so ridiculous." Alec looked Magnus right in the eyes as he spoke, earning an eyebrow raise and a smile that rose on half of Magnus' face.

"I'm sure we all do. Except you. You don't have to be ridiculous to fit in this world. When I saw you painting the other day, you looked so calm. It's been impossible for me to be perfectly content since then. I haven't been able to be satisfied with any of my songs." He looked sad, then his eyes widened suddenly. Alec just stared. _No, there's no chance. It's impossible_. His brain decided now would be an excellent time to stop functioning properly, and seemed to disconnect from his mouth, leaving him unable to speak.

"Is that what all the writing on your arm is? Song lyrics?" He eventually managed to ask.

Magnus looked down. "Oh—yeah, just an idea I got yesterday when I was meeting with your sister."

Alec leaned away. "_What?_ What do you want with my sister?"

"Nothing, dear, I can be friends with her if I like. She has lovely fashion sense. The two of us will certainly be going shopping together at some point within the next month."

"God, Izzy's enough of a nightmare shopping on her own," Alec muttered. Magnus' grin widened rather maliciously in response, but he said nothing. Alec could only bear so much of this before he had to ask what Magnus was thinking about.

"Oh, nothing. Just imagining different outfits on you. I think you'd look dazzling in something blue… something shimmery, maybe, and tight… and I don't think your hair needs to be cut, but if you combed it out of your eyes…."

"Don't try to get me to play dress up," Alec grumbled. "Izzy did enough of that too."

"I find it adorable how much you let your little sister get away with," Magnus replied. He took another sip of his drink. The purple part, which had been on the bottom, was gone now. Alec imagined Magnus filling up with purple and glitter. Then he imagined Magnus filling up with sunset, and it turned his skin into light and color. He whipped out his sketchbook again and drew quickly, pencil mapping out the lines and edges of Magnus' body as though he'd done it a thousand times before. He drew as though rushing to fill the page, as though Magnus was going to burn out and disappear like a star.

The glittery man sat patiently, eyes resting gently on Alec's face. He wondered what Alec was drawing to make him so frantic, so desperate. He waited as the pencil lines convened to look like _him_, and caught his breath. He felt for the first time ever that there was a picture of him that was actually him, unlike the grinning shot of him on the ads for his shows or any other photos that felt forced. He looked at the lyrics on his arm and looked at Alec studiously sketching. This man was becoming more inspiring with every breath he took. Magnus pulled out his pen again and wrote on the front of his forearm, sure of the lyrics this time, sure of _Alec_ this time.

_I think that if you looked, you would find_

_This paradise doesn't need to stay in your mind_

_I hear your voice, it's in my head_

_Makes me wish I wasn't so dead_

_Because here, with you, it isn't so hard_

_To get dance with the light and hold hands with the dark_

_To part the clouds and soak in the sun_

_Feeling so hopeless was never this fun_

_And here, with you, it isn't so bad_

_You remind me of the life I still have_

_Of the whispers I felt when you told me your name_

_Feeling like finally something will change_

_And here, with you, no shadows will fall_

_How have I been alive so long_

_When I haven't been living at all?_

He glanced up to find Alec watching him, head tilted like a puppy. His blue eyes were round and alluring. And now maybe Magnus wasn't so sure of himself anymore. The one thing that he _was_ sure of, however, was that as every day went by, he grew exponentially more doomed.

"Magnus? You okay?" Alec wondered quietly.

"No," Magnus smiled up at his friend. "Thanks to you, I'm perfect."

He wanted to paint the ocean the rosy color that flooded Alec's face. But he settled for drowning in his eyes instead.

* * *

Sorry for such a short chapter... I promise this weekend I'll put up something longer, since I won't be drowning in school. *rolls eyes* oh well. Hope you like it. Have a great day. *sends hugs*


	6. So Good at Lying

**A/N: Welp. New chapter. Yay. **

**Disclaimer: Don't own anything Cassandra Clare owns. Stuff I own: Alec's books, Magnus' songs, the plot of this thing. If I owned Alec and Magnus, the entire series would revolve around them. Maybe it's for the best... **

**Also, the Sebastian I mention in this chapter is not Jonathan. Just so nobody's confused. :)**

* * *

Alec was okay with Magnus staring at him. He wasn't sure if that was okay in itself. He knew Izzy probably knew about his feelings for men and how they were never the same for women. He knew Izzy probably knew how misplaced he felt, how uncertain, because of those feelings. He wished he could tell her without hiding behind the fear of her rejection, of his _baby sister_ looking at him like he'd grown a third eyeball. Their parents, Robert and Maryse Lightwood, had always been very religious, and Robert had been making offhand comments about how it was wrong to be the way Alec was, how it was disgusting, and Alec had died a little bit inside every day he heard those words. His father told him he'd always be his son, but Alec couldn't help but wonder if that promise would change if he found out.

That was why Magnus scared him. Being with Magnus felt so natural, so solid. Real. Alec didn't stutter as much as usual around Magnus. It was like he became a new person, and he was blindly rushing into it with a smile on his face. That was terrifying. One of Bane's songs constantly reminded him of how he felt about the whole ordeal.

_Who am I to say that I understand love_

_I barely understand how my face forms a smile_

_I think it's safe to say we'll be out here for a while_

_Is it because you lost your way, or I lost the map_

_Or something neither of us dare to say_

_Who am I to say that I understand love_

_And the look that she gave me_

_Made me go a little bit crazy_

_She said love is a force that dominates the ages_

_Why do you think our ribs are cages?_

Alec felt content in the coffee shop. He'd found a friend in Magnus, even if maybe he was attracted to him a little bit (oh, who was he kidding, it was a lot). All of his friends before had been reserved, closed-off. He had never been able to be himself around anyone besides his siblings and maybe a few of their friends, like Simon Lewis and Max's friend Julian Blackthorn. But people back in high school, like Jordan and Jonathan, had always been outside Alec's walls. There had been one person before who'd gotten Alec to open up: Sebastian Verlac. And he was on the other side of the country for college. He'd been friends with girls before, and had developed a sisterly bond with Aline Penhallow, to the point where Jace made some of his trademark jokes and Aline decided to bluntly tell him she was lesbian and promptly kissed Helen in front of their families, resulting in cheering from the younger Blackthorn kids, surprise but acceptance from their parents, astonishment from Izzy and Jace, pride from Alec, horror from Maryse, and the beginnings of a storm from Robert as he left the room.

The next day, Robert had angrily drawn Alec aside and told him never to associate with '_people like that,'_ and that Aline deserved to burn in Edom, and that Alec would too if he was seen with her again. Robert thought that was why Alec had written Killian and Mala the way he had, to exact revenge. And maybe that was part of it. But the real reason was deeper. The story was supposed to not only prove that two men could love each other, but to prove that they could do so openly. To prove that love was love.

But right now, he was here, in the coffee shop on the corner of Clave Street, sitting across from Magnus, legs knocking together under the table occasionally, which neither of them seemed to mind. Right now, Magnus was grinning at him from both across the table and from the paper in his sketchbook. Right now, Alec was okay.

"So, tell me, darling, what are you drawing?" Magnus asked, putting one ring-encircled finger on the top of the book in an attempt to pull it down. He moved so seamlessly, as though through water. Alec wanted to see Magnus underwater. He flipped the page and began to sketch that, too, ignoring the question. He did have one earbud in, in any case. Magnus picked up the other one and popped it into his ear. His eyebrows raised, and he smiled in a way Alec had never seen before. Almost predatory. He began to nod along to the music, and when he reached the chorus, he sang along perfectly, as though the words were flowing from his very soul. His voice matched with the singer's too, almost a bit too well….

Alec narrowed his eyes at Magnus, and he stopped singing in confusion.

"What is it, love? You know that angry look is doing nothing good for your complexion. Care to tell me what it's about?"

"You're Magnus _Bane_, aren't you?" There it was. The question. It had just slipped out, and now stood on the table, awaiting verdict. Magnus blinked at it.

"Well, goodness, darling, that was abrupt." He paused. "Yes, I am Magnus Bane. And are you Alexander Lightwood?"

Alec felt all warmth leave his body. "How did…" then it came to him. "My sister, of _course_. Izzy must've told you, right?"

"Nope. But her name is Isabelle Lightwood, which she did not deny, and she mentioned she had a brother named Alexander who went by Alec. And see, Alexander Lightwood probably isn't a very common name, so it wasn't hard to put two and two together. And for the record, I love your books."

"I bet now you're going to pressure me into writing a sequel to _All the Locked Doors_, then?" Alec gave him a tired smile and watched shock erupt on Magnus' face, accompanying the realization that he'd just _met_ the _author_ of _All the Locked Doors,_ and hence could talk to him about the book from the point of view of its _god_.

"Hadn't crossed my mind. Would you, though? Like, were you ever planning to?"

"No," Alec sighed. "I always thought I would break it if I continued the story, if you know what I mean. It ended, so it ended. I can think of so many things that could happen if I wrote a sequel, and I'm not sure I want them to happen. I think Killian and Mala deserve a happy ending. It's not like I could ever have one." He looked down at his coffee bitterly. Magnus reached over and clasped his hand, looking at him with confusion and sympathy. Alec wasn't sure what he'd expected, but whatever bad thing it was, it wasn't there. The only thing there was Magnus.

"I can't believe this. You _made_ Killian and Mala. I am sitting here with the creator of the Stacked Kingdoms. I don't know what to feel right now, Alexander."

"Well, I'm sitting here with one of the most famous singers in the world, so I think we're pretty even."

"But you make _worlds_. All I make is music." Magnus still looked rather starstruck.

"I got the idea for _All the Locked Doors_ from one of _your_ songs," Alec admitted. "_Anymore_ was the name of it."

Magnus blinked several times, then began to sing tentatively.

"_No, I'm not scared of looking back_

_I do it all the time_

_I'm not a kid anymore_

_I closed that door_

_And it won't open anymore_

_I'm trapped_

_It feels like I've been slapped_

_There's no going back that way_

_This is real_

_I can finally feel_

_And stand my own_

_And now that I can, all I want is to go back_

_And hide behind that door_

_But it won't open anymore,_

_So on shaky legs, I walk away_

_But halfway to nowhere_

_I'm struggling to breathe_

_I just want to go into my room and slam the door_

_But it won't open anymore_

_You ask me if I'm scared, well, yes I am_

_Because my feet are planted firmly in the ground_

_While he can run at the speed of sound_

_Yes, I am scared_

_Because I am being buried alive_

_While he soars into the sky_

_And I am scared,_

_Because I'm not a kid anymore _

_That door is as good as melded into the wall _

_It will never open again_

_Yes, I am scared_

_But I won't hide behind closed doors_

'_Cause none of them are open anymore_

_And I am scared_

_That nobody cares enough to answer_

_When I knock_

_Racing against the clock_

_I only have so much time in this life, and _

_I don't want to spend it being scared_

_But I am scared_

_Of growing up, of having to be there for someone else_

_Someone who loves me for myself _

_I won't close that door_

_I'm not a kid anymore_

_But at least I can realize_

_That most doors have handles on both sides."_

Alec smiled. "Yep. That's the one."

"I wrote that one about my mom," Magnus breathed. "When I realized we weren't okay. I had no idea anyone could see meaning in it. My songs have always been my escape. I never expected to get where I am today because of them."

"I always thought it was amazing someone could put that much emotion into a song," Alec said. "I'd felt emotions through books before, and art if it was really good, but songs were always distant. Until you. When I first listened to your songs, they felt real."

"They're not." Magnus sounded hollow. "None of the emotion in my songs is real. I've gotten so good at telling lies that I believe them."

"What happened to your mom?" Alec asked softly. "Sorry. You don't have to tell me." He wondered what Magnus would do, what he would say. Alec felt oddly light. He found he wasn't as dumbfounded as he thought he'd be upon meeting Magnus Bane, and even more weirdly, found he didn't care that Magnus knew who he was. It was liberating, in a sense.

"No, no, I'll tell you," Magnus said breathlessly. "But not here. Walk with me to the park, and I'll tell you on the way."

Alec stood up slowly, tucking his sketchbook under his arm and sliding his pencils into his pocket. He waved to Clary as he and Magnus exited the café and began to walk down the road to Alicante Park. Several people passing by glanced at them: two men walking in close proximity, one in jeans and an oversized black sweater, and the other in shimmery platform boots, neon purple leather pants, a sequined shirt, and a navy blue velvet frock coat, shedding glitter with every step. He figured they must look ridiculous together.

"My father was hardly ever around when I was young," the singer began. "He got it into his head that I wasn't his child, and he was constantly berating my mom about it. When she told him I was his, he came to the conclusion that I was the child of a demon and that I should kill myself. He told me many ways to do it. When I didn't he tried to drown me."

"Magnus—" Alec tried to say, but Magnus held up one hand and continued.

"I somehow managed to kick him hard enough that he let me go, but I fell into the river and was carried off. I woke up on the shore of some town and everyone was talking about the murder of the Bane wife. I didn't know what to think. I asked the first person I came across what that was about, and he told me someone had heard screams and found my mother hanging from a noose in a burning barn. You can imagine I never went back."

Alec was speechless.

"That's when I started writing songs. I wrote so many of them that I would never sing, so many that are just sitting in my songbook. They get stuck in my head at night, Alexander, the songs I never sing. And it hurts like hell."

Alec stretched his arm out and grabbed Magnus' hand. "I know you don't want me to say I'm sorry," he began. "But I am sorry. Sorry that I can't begin to comprehend how hard that must've been. Sorry that I can't go back in time to make it easier."

"Sometimes it feels like it was yesterday," Magnus said. "And sometimes it feels like it was eight hundred years ago."

Alec pulled his hand away from Magnus'. And he thought he saw the other man's fingers twitch, as though he wanted to take it back.

"My parents have always treated me like a figurine: constant and solid and always the same no matter what. They spoke against LGBT stuff around the house, so naturally I grew more distant from them. I never told them anything. I started writing because I needed a way out, and fiction has always been that way out. I make all my protagonists LGBT for a lot of reasons, and one of them is to get back at my dad for everything he said. He didn't know he has a gay son, but Mala is gay because he's supposed to represent how I felt, and the High Emperor is how my dad destroyed me."

"If you based the freaking High Emperor off of your dad, I already hate him," Magnus shuddered. "I remember how much I cried after he told Mala to give up on Killian. I thought he would."

"Mala couldn't possibly give up on Killian," Alec smiled slightly. "He loves him. Love is only real if it stretches you every which way and you come through it feeling like you're finally complete. If Mala had given up on Killian, he would've been lost somewhere in the middle."

"He would've looked like a clay blob," Magnus grinned.

"A clay blob with fabulous hair," Alec agreed.

"So Mala having awesome hair is canon?"

"More than anything."

"I think I like having an author as a friend," Magnus decided. "So, tell me about the scene where Killian is walking on the railroad…."

The entire walk to the park, they discussed _All the Locked Doors_ and many of Magnus' songs. Alec learned a lot about Magnus and the self he was trying to protect with his music. He wanted to draw this adult Magnus standing over a child version of himself, creating shields of musical notes and lyrics to ward off shadows. He learned a lot about how Magnus religiously loved oranges and had a pampered cat named Chairman Meow.

He told Magnus about his siblings and the torture that was living with Izzy for sixteen years, and how it felt good to be out of the house. He told him about trying to live through high school keeping his sexuality a secret. He told him about Sebastian and how he thought he'd be happy with him, until he got a scholarship to a college all the way across the country. He told him about how he was scared of basically everything and how painting brought him back from the edge.

When they reached the park, it began to rain. Laughing, Magnus turned his face up while Alec ran for cover under a tree.

"What are you doing, darling? The rain won't kill you!"

"In the Reflected Realm it will!" Alec called back. Magnus laughed again, getting the reference to another of Alec's books.

"If this was the Reflected Realm, I'd be looking for myself to see what a monstrosity I'd be there. Probably shy and nerdy and in love with science. I might have a pet hamster and eat blueberries all day. Now that would be interesting."

"I don't like the rain," Alec said, crossing his arms grumpily.

"I don't like how unhappy you look!" Magnus was grinning so widely it wasn't far from Alec's mind that his face might split from the tension. He rushed over and took Alec by the hands, pulling him into the downpour. Soon enough, both of them were drenched, hair plastered to the sides of their heads, water droplets clinging to eyelashes and dripping down their faces. Magnus was practically glowing.

"But Magnus, your glitter," Alec protested feebly.

"There's a sentence I thought I'd never hear," Magnus told him. "Don't worry about my glitter. I've got more than enough back at home."

The ground quickly became muddy off the path, and Alec couldn't see the street behind them. He wanted to get inside and change into his pajamas, then drink hot chocolate until his skin steamed, but Magnus had an iron grip on his hands. However, the smile on his face was what made Alec stay in the end, despite the cold, despite his racing heart, despite everything.

Someone on a bike shot past them, haphazardly staying on the trail, but it knocked both Alec and Magnus backward onto the ground. Alec landed on his side, so he got more mud on his face than he would've liked to admit. Magnus was still laughing as he got up and helped Alec to his feet.

"Someone's in a good mood," Alec grumbled.

"You have mud in your hair," Magnus explained. "You look so cute!" He got out his phone and took a picture, then showed Alec, who didn't know in the slightest how Magnus thought he was cute.

"I am not cute."

"Fine, would you prefer adorable?"

Alec, in retaliation, took a picture of the rain-drenched, grinning Magnus before him. Somehow, the light caught his eyes and made them shimmer like the sun. He liked the picture more than he cared to admit. He felt himself blushing. Magnus grabbed the phone and looked at the image. He smiled wider. Then he began to type in a phone number and sent the image to it.

"What was that?" Alec asked, snatching his phone back.

"Me acting on my desires," Magnus replied, showing Alec his own phone, where the image had popped up. "You still have mud on your face, dear." He reached a hand up and wiped his thumb across Alec's cheek, then his forehead, then the space between his nose and his lips. Alec's skin tingled everywhere he touched, and he could barely stand still throughout the process, until Magnus, seemingly satisfied, lowered his hand.

He smiled up at him, and suddenly Alec couldn't tell the difference between the thunder and his heartbeat.

Suddenly the rain felt like ice.


	7. Picture Perfect

**A/N: Hi. New chapter. I'm really tired... *falls asleep on computer* no. Ok, sorry bout that. I do not own that which Cassandra Clare owns, but I do own Magnus's songs and Alec's books! I also drew the two pictures of Alec and Magnus that they took in the park last chapter, but couldn't figure out how to put them in, so... oh well. Enjoy!**

* * *

Magnus couldn't sleep. He sat cross-legged in the middle of his massive, fluffy, colorful bed, sketchbook open on his left, phone across from him, computer sitting to his right, _All the Locked Doors_ in his lap. He wasn't focusing entirely on any of the objects around him, or his cat, for that matter, who lay curled majestically on his head. He wasn't focusing on the song lyrics drifting through his head or the music of the Blackthorns (an epic band made up of seven siblings). He was focusing solely on how stupid he'd been that day in the park.

After he and Alec had gone their separate ways, both still muddy and ruffled, Magnus couldn't pretend he hadn't seen Alec blushing. And he couldn't pretend he didn't care. Because he was slowly but surely developing feelings for Alec—feelings he didn't know what to do with, didn't know how to label. Feelings that made him question how he hadn't noticed how empty he'd been before.

And he was scared. He looked at the picture he'd taken of Alec: rumpled, mud plastered to the side of his face, blue eyes blazing. His skin shimmered beneath the sheet of water. The photo was maybe not the best ever, but it captured what needed to be captured: a beautiful boy in a beautiful rainshower. Magnus then went to look at the picture Alec had taken of him, his hair slicked down, glitter running into the rivulets of water on his face as he grinned wickedly, eyes turned up toward Alec's face and, incidentally, the camera. He liked that picture. He liked how un-perfect he looked, how untainted.

_Maybe Alec's also a photographer,_ Magnus mused. _It wouldn't surprise me. He's good at basically everything he does._ It was true. Alexander Lightwood was amazing. He was obviously an amazing writer, but he was also exceptional at art and apparently photography too, and Magnus wasn't complaining about how he handled himself in the park and just _listened_. Nobody just listened anymore. Sure, Magnus was listening to music now, but he wasn't really hearing it for what it was. He wasn't absorbing the words or appreciating the emotion that went into singing them.

"I need to listen more," he said aloud. "Whaddaya say, Chairman? Should I work on listening more?"

When his cat didn't give him a thought-out, insightful answer, Magnus sighed and reached for the nightstand, where he kept a bowl of clementines. Not as good as a real orange, but he didn't want to get up and walk to the kitchen. He knew Ragnor and his boyfriend Raphael would be watching some movie or television program in the living room, and he didn't want to intrude.

"Okay, spill," Catarina ordered, marching into Magnus' room with a tub of caramel fudge ice cream and two spoons. "You only listen to this stuff when you're falling, Mags, so I'm going to get this out of you if it's the last thing I do." She flopped into his bed with him and handed him a spoon, which he took. "So! What's his name?"

Magnus groaned. "Really, Cat, do we have to do this now?"

"We could've done it earlier, but you were covered in mud and I didn't know how long it would take you to get cleaned up. But then I heard this song and I knew something else was going on. The Blackthorns are your heartache band." She picked up _All the Locked Doors_ and studied it. "Are you reading this _again_? Magnus. You've read this thing fifty-eight times as far as I know. Is something wrong?"

"Cat. I am _not_ talking about it. Even if there was someone, he can't possibly see anything in me past my music. And about the book, well, it _is_ my favorite book in the world."

"What's his name?" Catarina pressured. Magnus spooned a large scoop of ice cream into his mouth so that response was impossible. She took the ice cream tub away so he wouldn't be able to deploy the same tactic again.

"You wouldn't believe me if I told you."

"Try me. Is he famous or something?"

"Maybe…" Magnus couldn't lie to Catarina, something he hated right now.

"Actor?" She guessed. "Oh, there are plenty of hot actors these days."

"I don't think he's an actor, no," Magnus admitted.

"Musician, like you?" She guessed again.

"No, but he likes my music. Cat, stop it. Please."

"It's my business to know who gets to my Magnus like this," she grinned, snuggling into his shoulder. "I don't mind if you don't tell me. But I'm going to find out, and then I'm going to give you hell for it."

"Wouldn't have it any other way." Magnus smiled as he leaned his head on Catarina's. They fell asleep like that, in their day-clothes, surrounded by Magnus' stuff, a cat stretched across their heads, and the Blackthorns' music swirling around them like snowflakes, the words melting into their skin.

As you might expect, Alec couldn't sleep either. Every time he closed his eyes, Magnus' hand was on his face again. His chest felt like it would implode with every breath he took. It was all he could do to keep in an insane bout of laughter. He was writing an interaction between two of the characters for a new book he was drafting, using his mood to his advantage to get the conversation right. The scene was between the main character's big brother and her best friend. Alec couldn't help but find it funny that he'd made the brother a 'golden boy,' with long blond hair and handsome from every angle. Like Jace. The only differences were that the main character was nothing like Izzy, and that this character was bisexual, while Jace was so straight he didn't need a ruler to draw a line.

Magnus Bane's songs were blasting through his room, and he found he was focusing more on the words than on his own writing. Songs about going against the majority. Songs about losing everything. Songs about wishing you could be there. Songs about not being good enough. Alec could relate to almost all of them, but when he really wondered where Magnus had felt the incentive to write these songs, he had to stop to think about it. His mother's death had inspired _Anymore_. High school bullies had inspired _Enough is Enough_. All of the hardship compiled into one churning mass had inspired so many beautiful songs.

_How am I supposed to breathe_

_If the stars want to drown me_

_How am I supposed to sing_

_If they took away my voice_

_How am I supposed to live_

_In a world that doesn't want me_

_How am I supposed to decide_

_If I don't even have a choice_

Alec was expecting the realization to knock him off his feet at any minute. He knew he couldn't just accept that _hey, his new hot and sparkly friend was Magnus Bane,_ could he? He'd had fantasies about meeting the musician before, but now that he had, he'd felt none of the emotions he'd expected to feel, and that scared him. He was just waiting for the wave to break at this point, waiting for something to wash up and drown him.

Isabelle burst into his room. "Who is it?" she shouted, cannonballing into Alec's bed. "You're obviously crushing! Tell me!"

"I'm not," he said broodily. "Go away."

"You're holed up in your room listening to Magnus Bane songs, writing fluff scenes for characters that aren't normally fluffy, and eating more chocolate than I do during 'my time of the month,' as you boys put it. Which is a lot of chocolate. So, Alexander Gideon Lightwood… who is it?"

"Alec has a girlfriend?" Jace also rushed into Alec's bedroom and flopped onto his back on the bed. "Dude!"

"I don't have a girlfriend, Jace." At least that was true.

"Well, is there a girl you'd like to be your girlfriend?"

"Nope."

"A girl you hooked up with?"

"No! God, Jace, I'm not like you!"

"So there's no girl I should know about?"

"No girls!"

"Any _guy_ I should know about?" Jace raised his eyes to meet Alec's, and when Alec didn't negate the claim, he grinned. "So there _is_ a guy. Okay. I haven't been paying attention to any of the male population in the area lately, so… Izzy?" He turned to look at his sister, who was still smiling evilly. Alec was bewildered. They just… _accepted_ it? They weren't going to be _weird_? They weren't going to even _think_ about it?

"I know a few guys." she said innocently. "I don't know Alec's type, so I'm not sure who to set him up with. And obviously he has to actually know the person to like them, which narrows down the list… I can think of like three at the moment."

"Guys. Stop," Alec groaned, closing his computer and leaning back against his pillows.

"Over my dead body," Jace grinned.

"I was always jealous of the girls who had gay brothers," Izzy admitted. "I can't believe I have one of my own. Now I can talk about all the hot actors with you, since I can't talk about them with Clary because _this guy_ gets offended—" she kicked Jace in the stomach "—and you can meet my friends and not be weird around them cause there's no chance of you liking them, and—"

"Izzy. Just shut up, please."

"Alec, I know who it is. I'm not going to tell anyone, but he likes you more than he cared to admit to me. In fact, I'm going to sort this out tomorrow, because I'm meeting him for coffee." She smiled and ushered Jace out the door. "Love you, big brother."

"Love you too," Alec called, and threw his arm over his eyes. Izzy had seemed so confident in her knowledge of Magnus, but how would she have known? _Of course, the Instagram thing_, he remembered. And Magnus had mentioned talking to Isabelle in the park, before it started raining, before they'd landed in the mud, before Magnus had touched his face… _God, Alec, you're hopeless_.

His phone dinged, and he opened it to find an unknown number saying **Help, your sister's crazy.** He texted back: _**Magnus**_**?**

**Yeah?**

_**What are you talking about?**_

**Izzy txtd me & said we had to talk. Im nervous.**

_**Dont be.**_

**If u say so darling ;) goodnight.**

And Alec put his phone away. Damn his little sister. He fell asleep worrying about everything and nothing at all.

Bright and early the next morning, Isabelle was dressing to accomplish. She had a busy day ahead of her to help her clueless brothers, but she wasn't complaining, seeing as she got to spend time with two of her best friends: Clary and now Magnus. She knew Jace liked Clary, but she wasn't sure how much, and she wasn't sure it would be worth it if all he wanted was to get into her pants, the way he did with most girls. She knew Alec was confused by his feelings for Magnus. And she knew Magnus was confused by Alec in general. So she was meeting him for coffee at Alicafé, where she could talk to both of them about her brothers and get some friendly bonding time in too.

By the time she reached Alicafé, Magnus was there, booted feet up on the windowsill, glittering brighter than the stars and grinning ferociously. He was wearing bright yellow pants, a turquoise button-down, and a dark purple vest, about a million shiny necklaces, and his color scheme for makeup and glitter was aqua, a bit greener than his shirt but not as green as his eyes. It complemented his spiked-up black hair. Overall, he was as stunning as always.

"Hey there, darling," he called when she entered. "I got your urgent message. What's this about?"

"What, I'm not allowed to spend time with my GBF?" Isabelle teased.

"I prefer freewheeling bisexual," Magnus told her, still smiling easily.

"Forgive me," she smiled back. "What are you doing today?"

He stretched, body arching in a catlike manner as he brought his feet back to the floor. "Nothing, just hoping to stay out of the house so that Catarina can't catch me and pressure me into talking about all of the details of my life. Why?"

"Is this about your life in general, or a specific aspect of it?"

"Don't you start too," he said, exasperated.

"Oh, but I'm right in the middle of it," she said. "I know you like my brother and I know my brother likes you, but neither of you have done anything about it."

Magnus had the good grace to look shocked.

"Alec… _likes_ me?"

"He was lying on his bed listening to your music on full blast and eating chocolate and moping. And he keeps drawing this silhouette with cat eyes that looks just like you. It's quite obvious."

"So what do you want me to do?"

"I don't know, what do you normally do?"

"I normally meet random hot people at parties, sleep with them, and leave. I'm not doing that to Alexander freaking Lightwood."

Isabelle stood up and planted her hands on the table, leaning over Magnus, who now looked scared. "You'd better not. You make my brother happy. If there comes a day when you don't make him happy, I will end you." She sat back down and smiled. "Okay. Sorry, that's my spiel for anyone who's involved with my family. I like you. I want to see you and Alec happy. And I want to take you shopping. I could use your godly fashion sense, because my brothers are seriously lacking in that department."

"Deal," Magnus grinned, relaxing visibly. "When do we leave?"

"As soon as I eat something," Isabelle laughed. "I had to leave quickly so Alec and Jace wouldn't ask me where I was going." She stood up and went to the counter. Clary asked her what she wanted, and she ordered a mocha and a croissant. When she paid in cash and received her change, she put it in the tip jar by force of habit.

"So what's up with you and Jace?" She asked when the redhead turned to make her coffee and retrieve the pastry.

"Something, maybe," Clary said hesitantly. "I mean, I don't know, Isabelle."

"You don't have to know. But make sure he doesn't do something dumb and hurt himself trying to impress you, okay?"

"Got it," she smiled, handing Izzy her order. She returned to Magnus and took a large bite of the croissant.

"So why do I get a death threat and she gets a 'watch out for him'?" Magnus asked jokingly when she sat down.

"Jace can take care of himself, Alec can't. That's all there is to it."

"Good to know you have such confidence in your brother."

"I know, right? So I was thinking first we could hit the mall…" she rattled off her plan to Magnus, becoming so engrossed with this glorious new friendship. She made a vow to herself that she would surely give Alec hell—and worse—if he _ever_ let this one get away.

* * *

**A/N: So… I do have a general idea where this is going. I know what the end will be and I know what I have to do to get there… so I guess I'll just go with it? Yes? I have a lot of writing experience but hardly any fanfiction experience, so bear with me. Review for thoughts, suggestions, constructive criticism, whatever, and have a great day! :)**


	8. Blue Eyes

A/N: Happy Monday... I didn't have school today, so this happened? I guess? Thank you for your reviews :D!

Disclaimer: I own Alec's book and Magnus's songs. (I hope the songs I've included don't suck too bad :\ ) But I do NOT own Alec and Magnus or any of the stuff that belongs to Cassandra Clare.

* * *

Alec and Magnus, again, sat at their usual table in Alicafé, feet tangled together under the table, Magnus sipping his rainbow drink and Alec ignoring his black coffee. Alec was drawing and Magnus was watching him. Both men were content. The sun was streaming through the window lazily, and there wasn't a thing in the world to be worried about.

"Your sister said some interesting things to me this morning," Magnus eventually said. Alec's hand stopped on the page, leaving the sketch of Magnus minus one eye. He looked up.

"She said some interesting things to me last night," he countered. "About you." He glanced back down at his paper. "She said you liked me."

"Well, she said you liked me too," Magnus told him, smirking. "She was right in any case; I do like you."

"I like you too," Alec admitted in a whisper, cursing his heart for racing. It wasn't like it had any reason to run.

"Glorious," Magnus breathed, eyes lighting up. He reached across the table, latched onto the collar of Alec's shirt, and pulled him awkwardly upward, so he felt his legs bend to an uncomfortable angle as he was yanked out of his seat. Magnus had one hand planted firmly on the table as he smoothly tugged Alec toward him.

And kissed him.

Alec had read descriptions of kisses—hell, he'd _written_ them—but he'd never felt quite like this, where he could relate heart and soul. Some writers used the expression 'captured' when describing kisses. Alec finally understood that. Magnus had captured his lips and Alec was certainly incapable of escape. He'd captured Alec entirely, mind and body. And Alec figured it would be more of a problem if he had any problem with it… which he didn't. He leaned up into Magnus, forgetting his awkward position at the table. It was forceful and needy and messy, but Alec thought it couldn't have been more perfect. Only when he thought he might pass out from lack of oxygen did he pull away, flopping heavily back into his chair, face painted red. Magnus was grinning despite his smeared lipstick. _Oh God_. Alec reached up to touch his mouth, and his fingers came away blue and glittery.

"I applaud you, boys," Clary snickered from the counter. Magnus, who still hadn't sat back down, turned to her and bowed.

"Would you like an encore?" He asked teasingly. The redhead just laughed, shaking her head at him. He finally resumed his seat, still grinning at Alec, who was trying to figure out what the hell he was supposed to do now. If he said he hadn't liked that kiss, he would be the biggest liar in Alicante. But nobody _knew_ about him… except Izzy and Jace, and Magnus, and now Clary, and maybe the few other people who were half-paying attention in the middle of the afternoon in a coffee shop. He smiled back at Magnus.

"Did Izzy mention that this character I've been drawing—the one with the cat eyes and the magic hands—was you?"

"Oh, honey, I can show you _magic hands,_" Magnus teased, licking his lips slowly. Alec blushed redder.

"You know that's not what I meant," he chastised.

"Yes, but darling, you walked into that so hopelessly it was impossible not to say anything."

"Whatever… I meant the blue fire… you know, this one." He flipped to the beginning of his sketchbook and showed Magnus the majestic-looking silhouetted character with spiky hair, green-gold cat eyes, and a handful of sparkly blue flame. He watched Magnus take in the image, an impressed expression gracing his features. They sat in silence for a few moments.

"I have something for you," Magnus said abruptly. "I was going to wait until I released it to tell you, but now that you know who I am, well, I suppose you should just hear it." Alec raised his eyebrows as Magnus stood, pushing his chair back, and held out his bejeweled hand. Alec took it and they hurried outside, Magnus not letting Alec release his hand until they stopped in the middle of Alicante Park.

"What is this?" He stammered. "I don't understand. _You_ have something for _me_? But you're _Magnus Bane._"

"Yes, darling, I thought we had cleared that up," he said loftily. "Now be quiet. I figured I couldn't sing to you without either attracting attention or getting emotional—or both, and I'm not sure which is worse—so you're going to have to listen to this with your earbuds." He reached into Alec's coat pocket and pulled out his earbuds, then untangled the cord and connected them to his phone. Before Alec could move, the singer shoved the devices into Alec's ears, tapped on the phone screen, and looked up smiling. Music started to play, a sweet melody swirling into Alec's ears and soon enough his heart as well.

_You whirled into my life_

_Dressed like you could be my shadow_

_But in reality it was me_

_Going wherever you go_

_My mind has never wandered like this before_

_I guess before_

_I was knocking on all the wrong doors_

_All the locked doors_

_And I guess I was distracted that day_

_I lost my way._

Alec smiled at the reference. He couldn't be sure if it was intentional or not, if Magnus had thought about the book or not, but right now it didn't matter. It began to rain, _again_ (what was _up_ with them in the park and rain?), and he looked up at the clouds in puzzlement. He wondered how the world could possibly still have darkness in it.

_Blue eyes_

_Became my sky_

_Became my earth and air_

_And light and sun and water_

_Blue eyes_

_Became my favorite color_

_I'm the one who writes songs_

_But you're stuck in my head_

_Oh blue eyes, blue eyes, blue eyes_

_You're my demise, demise, demise_

_I love you way too much_

_And yet it's not enough_

_I can't get enough of those_

_Blue eyes_

Alec met Magnus' eyes, shockingly green and gold and catlike. He smiled, hoping his overflowing emotions wouldn't drown either of them. He reached out and grasped the hand that wasn't holding the phone, and Magnus smiled back, rain running in rivulets down his beautiful face.

_I saw you in the park_

_And the world was trying a bit too hard_

_To look as good as your painting_

_As you added color to the dark_

_My heart has never stumbled like this before_

_I guess before_

_I was knocking on all the wrong doors_

_All the locked doors_

_Would it be too cliche for me to say_

_I like it better this way_

_Life is better this way_

_When the only thing I'm lost in_

_Are your eyes _

Magnus' voice grew quieter when the verse finished, only to explode in passion when he reached the second chorus. Alec closed his eyes, so that the world faded out. The rain soaked his hair and his clothes, and he grew cold, but it didn't matter. Magnus' voice was warmth enough.

_Blue eyes_

_Became my sky_

_Became my earth and and air_

_And stars and trees and fire_

_Blue eyes_

_Became my favorite color_

_I'm the one who writes songs_

_But you're stuck in my head_

_Oh blue eyes, blue eyes, blue eyes_

_Shove away all these lies, these lies, these lies_

_I want you way too much_

_And yet it's not enough_

_I can't get enough of you, _

_Blue eyes_

_You know I say my favorite color_

_Has always been the rainbow_

_That has never been more true_

_Now that all I can think about is you_

_I don't think there's enough glitter in the world_

_To match the sparkle in your eyes_

_Blue eyes_

_And if anyone asks, blue eyes_

_I'm not in love with your blue eyes_

_But if that's what this feeling is, blue eyes,_

_Then I'm in love with you, blue eyes_

_My soul has never been unanimous before_

_I guess before_

_I was knocking on all the wrong doors_

_All the locked doors_

_Can you give me the key_

_To open all the locked doors_

_Open all the locked doors_

_Oh, blue eyes_

_Became my sky_

_Became my universe_

_My life and want and wonder_

_Blue eyes_

_Became my favorite color_

_I'm the one who writes songs_

_But you're the music to my ears_

_Oh blue eyes, blue eyes, blue eyes_

_And the galaxy cries, and cries, and cries_

_Because I need you way too much_

_But I know I'm not enough_

_I'm not enough to catch those blue eyes_

_I'll never get enough of you,_

_Blue eyes_

And Alec opened his blue eyes and let the tears spill out, and he watched, soul alighting with heavenly weightlessness, as Magnus was visibly engulfed.

"Wow," he breathed. "Wow. I love it. I love…" he trailed off and looked down at Magnus. "It's _amazing_. No one's ever written anything about me before. I don't know how to thank you."

Magnus smiled slowly.

"I have a few ideas."

* * *

**Hope that didn't suck. More plot next chapter! :P**


	9. Are You Sure Your Eyes Are Open

**A/N: Maybe I forgot to mention before, this is my first fanfiction like ever… I'm glad to know people are actually reading it and that at least some of you like it! :D! Also, I apologize in advance for a couple things: the emotions in this chapter and the end of this chapter. Don't skip to the end to see what I mean. I will know if you do…. (just kidding). Have an awesome day!**

**Disclaimer: I own what I've owned since the beginning and nothing more. Also I'm annoyed because I dyed my hair magenta and it stained my hands. So now it looks like I'm either sunburned or a murderer. The struggle is real.**

* * *

Izzy was waiting for Alec in his apartment. He'd stayed out later than she'd expected him to, but then again, she'd only been expecting him to get coffee with Magnus. She hoped this delay had been Magnus' fault too. Alec came into the room, shaking out his head and arms, as though he'd been caught in the rain.

"Hello, big brother," she crooned. "Where have you been?"

"Out," he grumbled, trying to shove her out of the way to get to his room. "Izzy, let me go change, okay? I'm soaked!"

"Why is that?"

"I was in the park with Magnus and it started to rain." He didn't look her directly in the eyes when he said this, so she knew there was more to the story.

"And you didn't have the opportunity to find some sort of shelter? What could you possibly have been doing that preoccupied you both so much?" She winked. He blushed, looked up at the ceiling, then snapped his head back down and blushed redder. She saw him itch the back of his neck the way he did when he was nervous, which brought her attention to the mark on his pulse point. "Alexander Lightwood, what happened to your neck?"

His hand slipped back down to cover the mark, and the redness spread from his cheeks all over his face, onto his ears, and down his neck. "I fell."

"On your _neck_?"

"Izzy." He forced his way around her and stalked into his room. She flopped over on his couch happily, pulling out her phone to text Magnus. She took a picture of herself—she was wearing the awesome earrings they'd gotten together during their trip to the mall—and accompanied the image with a text reading: _**wearing our earrings! 3… and u wouldn't know what happened to my bro 2day would u?**_

The response was immediate: **Darling, I AM what happened to 'your bro' today.**

_**Thx, thats all i needed 2 know!**_

**don't kill me gorgeous,** Magnus texted back, and Isabelle sent him a winky face before shutting off her phone and going to Alec's room to confront him. He had changed into sweatpants and was shirtless, back facing her. She had half a mind to tickle him the way she used to when they were kids, but figured if he was already mad at her, he wouldn't take too kindly to that.

"You said you were with Magnus, right?" She asked sweetly.

"Yes, but I don't think that matters," he muttered. She knew he was blushing again, even if he wasn't looking her way at the moment.

"I think it does."

"Why?" He turned, finally, to face her, having shrugged a shirt on.

"Alec, I know how you feel about Magnus, and it's totally okay to experiment with feelings sometimes. I don't know why you think you can't tell me anything. I know you're gay and I don't care." She saw his eyes widen. "I love you, and I will love you even if your skin turns green and you grow seven more arms. You're my big brother. You've always been there for me, and now you need to let me be there for you."

"How long have you known?" He breathed.

"Years. Since Aline kissed Helen."

"_That_ long?" He looked incredulous. "Damn, Iz. Why didn't you say anything?"

"I didn't know if you even knew then," she admitted. "But you were so oddly ecstatic to see a girl kiss another girl. I remember the look on your face. You looked hopeful. So that's when I knew."

"And you didn't say anything?" He exclaimed. "Izzy, I have been terrified of myself and of everybody since I was _eleven_. Dad told me Aline was going to burn in _Edom_. You remember all of the offhand stuff they said about people like me at home, right? I thought for sure they were going to find out and think I was an abomination or something." He crossed his arms and sat down on his bed.

"Alec, you will _never_ be an abomination," she said quietly, moving to hug her brother. "Except some of your clothes. You need to let me and Maggie take you clothes shopping!"

"_Maggie_?" He almost squeaked the nickname in horror. She burst out laughing.

"Magnus, silly!"

"Maggie. Izzy, _really_? You nicknamed _Magnus Bane_ Maggie?"

"What else was I supposed to nickname him?"

"I don't know! Ragnor calls him _Mags_," Alec said. Isabelle raised her eyebrows.

"And Magnus calls Ragnor _Rags_," she added. "That's their _thing_."

"I know what Magnus is, he's the _Bane_ of my existence," Alec grumbled. "It's his fault you're pestering me when I could be working or sleeping."

"So is he responsible for that hickey?"

"_Izzy_!"

"I'm just _asking_!"

Before Alec could respond, a loud and sharp knock came at the door of the apartment. He got up and hurried to answer it, followed by Izzy, who laughed when her brother was bowled over by a short and wiry teenage boy. The blond man behind him laughed, clear as day, and they both looked up to see Sebastian Verlac standing in the doorway, smiling like the world was perfect. Max, on the other hand, was hugging Alec so tightly, Izzy suspected he might die of suffocation.

"Alec! Alec! I can't believe it's really you! Sebastian got me a new manga, and it's _awesome_! Is Izzy here? She'd better not be cooking dinner!"

"I'll pretend I didn't hear that," Isabelle smiled, coming over to hug Sebastian and kiss him on both cheeks. She then scooped up her littlest brother and snuggled him close to her chest. "Max, I missed you too. How long are you going to be staying?"

"I don't know. Mom's schedule is really weird, so it might be three days or it might be a week and a half, and Sebastian told me I could stay at his place."

"Thank you for being so amazing for my brother, Seb," Alec said fondly as Sebastian helped him to his feet.

"Why wouldn't I be?" He smiled, and the two men hugged tightly but briefly; neither of them wanted to question their relationship after the mutual let's-just-be-friends agreement when Sebastian went to college on the other side of the country.

"Oh! Alec! I brought you something!" Max ran to Sebastian and pulled a book out of his bag. He flipped it open and proudly showed it to Alec. Izzy looked over his shoulder at the drawings. She recognized the scene from _All the Locked Doors_ where Mala finally summoned the courage to stand up to his father, the High Emperor, and plead for Killian's life. It was one of the many scenes that had made Isabelle cry when reading it. The drawings were exceptional, she had to admit.

"Wow, Max, did you do these?" Alec took the book from his little brother.

"Yeah," Max grinned. Then he looked anxious. "Did I get Mala's hair right?"

Alec laughed. "_Perfect_. Are you planning on doing this professionally?"

"Could I?" Max looked astonished.

"Yep! You could write your own mangas, or graphic novels, or you could get in contact with other authors and make adaptations from their books, like you did with mine."

"Then yes, I want to do that," Max said gleefully.

"Awesome, Max," Izzy grinned. "Now you should go get settled in at Sebastian's, yeah?" _(A/N: No, Sebastian is not evil or Jonathan in this fic. He's the real Sebastian Verlac and is a total cinnamon roll.)_

"I'll come too," Alec decided. "We can talk on the way."

"Wonderful," Sebastian said as he put a hand on Max's shoulder.

"I'll be back later, Iz," Alec called, grabbing his jacket as he followed his brother and friend outside.

"Yeah, and we can finish our little talk," she teased. He rolled his eyes with enough feeling to flip the world over and slammed the door behind him. Isabelle went into the kitchen and stole one of the brownies Alec had made the previous night. They were absolutely delicious, and she would've taken the recipe if she knew where he kept it, or if she hadn't been unceremoniously banned from all kitchens for the rest of her life.

She called Magnus. He picked up on the fourth ring. "Hey, Izzy, what's up?"

"Do you want to come over to Alec's apartment, watch a movie, and eat ice cream and brownies with me while Alec's out with his little brother and friend?"

"If you don't mind me coming over in my pajamas," Magnus joked. Then she could hear him trying to muffle the receiver as he shouted to someone else in the vicinity, "_No, Ragnor, it's not like that! Be quiet!_ Sorry 'bout that. I'd love to. Where is this apartment?"

Izzy rattled off the address as she looked out the window, seeing Alec run through the rain to get into his car to drive Sebastian and Max to Sebastian's house outside of the main city.

"I'll be there in five." She could feel Magnus' grin through the phone.

"Awesome. I'll change into my pajamas too, and we'll make a party out of it."

"Sounds epic. See ya, Iz."

"Bye, Maggie." She hung up and went to put on some pajamas, which consisted of loose purple pants and a tank top. Then she went back into the main room with the brownies and a tub of ice cream and waited. He knocked on the door a minute later, wearing light blue pants with gold glitter on the seams. Under his jacket he was shirtless, which Isabelle didn't really mind, and she was sure Alec wouldn't either, when he got home.

"So, what's this about? Did you just want to yell at me for making out with your brother in the park earlier? Cause I can assure you, I don't think _he_ had a problem with it."

"So you _did_ make out with my brother? He wouldn't tell me anything!"

"Well, I kissed him first in Alicafé when he confirmed that he liked me, and then we went to the park and I played a song I wrote for him, and he asked how he could thank me, and you can imagine what happened next."

"Was it raining?"

"Yep. Pouring, in fact, and it looks like it'll be like that for the next week or more. It looks unsafe to be driving around even right now, when it isn't nearly as bad as it was earlier." Magnus looked over his shoulder. "My friend Tessa told me about a massive car crash that happened over the mountains a few months ago. Where is Alexander going, anyway?"

"An old friend of his brought our little brother up from where they were living out west. My parents also live there, and Max has been living with them, but Sebastian offered to keep Max for a little while so they could both come visit Alec. Sebastian's cousins, Clary and Jonathan, have a pretty big house outside of main Alicante. Sebastian and Max will be staying there. Alec went to help them get settled in," Isabelle explained.

"Ah." Magnus slouched sexily on the couch. "Should I be worried about this Sebastian character?"

"No," Izzy answered. "He and Alec are friends. Besides, Alec doesn't do the multiple-people thing. If he likes you, he likes _you_, nobody else. Me and Jace were always the type of people to date one person for a week. I'm currently not in a relationship, but I'm actually happy with it, surprisingly enough. Jace has a mega-crush on Clary. Honestly, it's ridiculous."

"Clary, barista Clary? That Clary?"

"Yes, that Clary. But it's good to see Alec happy about something attainable for once."

"What do you mean?" Magnus shifted in his chair and took a brownie.

"He's always loved books and art, and of course your music. That's always been huge. But he would retreat so far into the fictional worlds that we wouldn't be able to reach him. Now there's you: a real person, who cares for him in ways he needs people to care for him."

"Darling, I still think it's hilarious that he loves my music and I love his books. That alone could be a story he could write."

"Perhaps." Izzy folded her legs under her. "Who's your favorite of his characters?"

"Mala. I am _so_ in love with Mala," Magnus admitted. "From the first scene he was introduced, when he took the watering can and poured water on the High Emperor's head. From then on I loved him. And then when he was talking to the statues and gets _excited_ about the possibility of catching the black plague, I was like, _oh, you poor baby_. And then he was gay and I loved him even more."

"Alec does that on purpose, makes the main characters LGBT."

"He told me," Magnus smiled. "So you have another brother?"

"Yep, Max," Izzy smiled, turning down the volume on the TV, which she hadn't realized she'd left on. "He's fourteen, lives in California with our parents. He's obsessed with anime and manga, and is a right good artist, too; he actually made a comic adaptation of one of the scenes in _All the Locked Doors!_"

"I'd like to see that at some point during his visit," Magnus smiled.

"Of course. I can't wait for them to meet you. Even Jace. He might give you some odd nicknames, but he'll accept you if he knows you make Alec happy."

"Jace is Goldilocks, right?" Magnus seemed to recognize the name. "Alexander told me about him." He paused. "What kind of odd nicknames?"

"I dunno… Prince Glitter? Christmas lights? Pixie dust?"

Magnus burst out laughing. "I had a boyfriend whose sister got the entire friend group to call me The High Warlock of Brooklyn," he said. "To this day I don't know why. Sometimes Ragnor and Catarina still bring it up."

"You do seem like you could be a warlock," Isabelle mused. "With your cat eyes and all."

"Oh God, Jace is going to call me Catman," Magnus joked, rolling his eyes.

"Alec would have to be Robin, then, and I don't know how I feel about that."

"Well, it gives me an excuse to devour him," Magnus smirked, waggling his eyebrows.

"Don't let any of my brothers hear you say that," Izzy giggled. She crossed the room and flopped back into the couch next to Magnus, leaning against the armrest so her feet rested on the middle cushion. He mirrored her position, but slung one leg up so that his left foot rested on the back of the couch.

"Wouldn't dream of it, love," he grinned easily. "Now, does my darling Alexander have any other moody rituals I should know about, other than eating chocolate and listening to me sing?"

"Not just you singing," she began to laugh. "Also _My Chemical Romance_ and the _Hamilton_ soundtrack. Sometimes Adam Lambert. Seriously, his musical taste is all over the place when he's performing the classic Lightwood heartache ritual."

"Explain, please."

"All three of us older Lightwoods do it. We get a bunch of sugary foods, wear dark clothes, shut the blinds and lock the doors, and listen to music in our rooms until someone comes along to fix our problems for us."

"Very mature," Magnus snorted.

"But I knew Alec was worse than normal because he was _only_ listening to you. I came into his room the other day and he had _Having Trouble Sleeping_ and _The Stars Sure Are Beautiful_ playing. Loudly. And he was lying on his bed staring off into space."

Magnus let out a laugh. "He really does listen to my music, doesn't he? Do you ever get sick of it?"

"Not really. I get sick of him refusing to talk to me, but not of the songs."

"Which of my songs is your favorite?" Magnus asked, tilting his head. He kicked Izzy's foot, and she kicked back, which led to them foot-wrestling between them on the couch.

"Either _Nobody's There_ or _Take What You Can Get_," she smiled. "Ooh! No, _Glitter_ is my favorite."

"_Honey I can see that you're alone again_

_Are you really gonna be that bitter_

_I coulda sworn you were better than that_

_Oh, look, now I'm up to bat_

_Strikeout, home run, _

_Don't matter cause I'm having fun_

_I've got me, myself, and glitter,_" Magnus sang, and Isabelle was immediately floored by the realization that she was playing _footsie_ with a _famous singer_ on _her_ _brother's living room couch_. He didn't seem to think it was weird, though, being in his pajamas in the apartment of a famous _author_.

And that was when Isabelle realized none of that mattered. Magnus was unfazed because he was a _person_, and Alec was a _person_, and people did this kind of thing all the time. People could have late-night ice-cream chats with their brother's boyfriend, and it didn't matter if the brother was an author or the boyfriend was a singer. _Shit_, she realized. _Are they boyfriends? I never asked._

"Magnus? What are you and Alec?" She asked abruptly.

"A cute couple," he answered.

"You're boyfriends?"

"Ask him," he shrugged. "I know he's not totally out to the world, and meanwhile I make bisexual references in my songs and dress like _this_. I'd like to be his boyfriend, and I should think after his behavior in the park he'd like to be mine, but he should be present for the official answer to that question."

"Good to know." She straightened her legs, forcing him to bend his knees close to his chest. "Ha! I win!"

"Says who?" Magnus pushed his feet forward, switching their positions. They battled for another few minutes until they reached a stalemate, Izzy's left leg bent close to her and her right leg extended, Magnus mirroring the pose with his own legs, their feet pressed together. They raised their joint legs up and looked at each other through them.

"I always wanted a sister," Magnus confessed. "You're making me feel like I finally have one. Thank you, Isabelle Lightwood."

"You're quite welcome, Magnus Bane. Oh no, we never considered your actual name when we were talking about Jace and his nicknames!"

"Shit!" He yelled. "I'm going to be known as… um, gimme a second to think of something Jace-level dumb… _Magnomeister_."

"_Bane-inator_," Izzy fired back.

"We never even said _Sparkles_," Magnus suggested.

"Jace is more original than that. _Magny Babe_."

"Ew." Magnus scrunched up his face. "_Banester_."

"_Magno_."

"_Magno_? That's basically _mango_! I dislike mango!" Magnus paused, trying not to smile, and failed miserably. "We should stop. This is dumb."

"So is Jace!" Isabelle chortled. "He'll probably think of something dumber to call you."

"Dumber than _Magno_?" Magnus looked disbelieving.

"Dumber than Magno," Izzy confirmed.

Alec knew Clary and Jonathan Morgenstern were also staying in the cabin. He didn't know, however, that Jace would be there when he, Max, and Sebastian arrived. His golden-haired brother was sitting on the couch with Clary, half watching a movie and half snuggling and giggling in a very un-Jace like manner.

"Alec! Hey!" Clary smiled when she saw them.

"Hi, Clary," he said tiredly. "I'm just here to help Max get situated, then I'm out."

"How's Magnus?"

"Good, last I saw him," Alec shrugged, furiously chasing the memories of that afternoon from his mind, memories of orange-flavored lips and heat and hands in silky hair.

"Magnus?" Jace perked up. "Is Magnus the guy you were mooning over last night? Is he the one who gave you that hickey?"

"Jace," Alec groaned, hand going automatically to cover the mark.

"It's an honest question, Alec," his brother sighed.

"Fine, yes, it was," Alec grumbled, and tramped back outside to help Sebastian and Max get their stuff from the car. He squinted through the rain, wondering if he was looking the wrong way; he couldn't see his car anywhere. He hopped down the steps into the driveway, but there was nothing there. _Maybe Sebastian drove it into the garage to keep everything from getting wet,_ he mused, loping down the drive to the large garage door. He peered through, but his car wasn't inside. Jace's was, which Alec figured shouldn't have come as much of a surprise, but now he was worried. It wouldn't take too much for a car to roll backwards down the sloping driveway, especially in this weather.

Alec's blood ran cold as he realized that must be exactly what had happened. He didn't even bother zipping up his jacket as he ran, so it almost came off, causing the rain to soak his shirt right through to his skin. It should've melted or soaked into the skin on his chest, but instead it coated him in ice; he was colder than should be possible, and yet he wasn't shivering. He slipped precariously down the road, the rain causing the street to look almost like a river.

"_Max?_" He hollered. "Max? Sebastian? _Sebastian!_ _Max!_"

His voice was snatched by the rain. Alec was convinced the world had turned to quicksand, and was now relentlessly sucking him in. Over the past few days he had grown to love rain, in the park with Magnus. Now he hated it. Now, rain was a monster, tearing at all that was good. Alec couldn't remember ever feeling more lost. His heart was racing downstream faster than his feet could carry him, resulting in him tripping and falling.

But where he expected to hit the road and somersault down the mountain, he was caught and carried off by empty air. He fell for much longer than he should have—he wasn't _that_ tall, was he?—and tumbled, battered on all sides by tree branches and what felt like rocks, then was hit in the face by what was most certainly someone's _shoe_, before he flopped across a branch, dangling over it on his stomach. He couldn't see anything through blood and his hair, and couldn't reach his hand up to clear his vision. His heartbeat grew louder, more frantic, as his thoughts became sluggish. He didn't really care that he was hanging from a tree. He was in too much pain to really care where he was, if only it would _stop—_

Magnus' voice rose in the back of his mind.

_The light's growing brighter_

_Can't you see, can't you see_

_I wish I could distinguish it from_

_The fog around me, around me_

_Are those blurry faces or are they just clouds_

_Am I hearing voices or am I just hearing sounds_

_I want to hold on to the fact that life is not fair_

_But I'm holding on to thin air, on to thin air_

_The world is way too big when you know that_

_Nobody's there, nobody's there_

_And now I'm fading into thin air_

A crash sounded, then a thump, and then the angry horn of a car blared through the storm.

Hope spiraled downward, out of sight, its golden light lost in the growing gloom.

Bloodied rain dripped from Alec's ghost-white face.

* * *

**A/N: Ok. That happened.**

**If any of you have more suggestions for dumb nicknames for Magnus, PLEASE let me know.**

**Have an awesome day! :)**


	10. Would You Jump If You Could Fly

**A/N: Hi. So. Sorry about the cliffhanger last chapter…? Also thank you for the reviews! :) I own nothing that belongs to someone else… obviously. Cassandra Clare owns the characters, and another Fanfiction writer owns the nickname Jace uses later on, but I'm terribly sorry I can't remember who at the moment. I own Magnus' songs and Alec's books.**

**Also, I'm thinking of doing more sections from other characters' POV? What do you guys think about that? Maybe I'll bring some of the Infernal Devices characters in and do a scene from Clary or Simon's point of view. If you think it's a bad idea and I should just keep it a Malec fic, let me know. Okay, I'll shut up now.**

* * *

Jace wondered what was taking the three boys so long. Alec had come into the living room alone and suitcase-less, meaning he must've gone back out to help Sebastian and Max. But it had been ten minutes and they had yet to make an appearance. He called Alec, but he didn't pick up. He called Max, and Clary called Sebastian, but neither of them picked up either. Jace eventually decided to head out and look for them. He shrugged his coat on, kissed Clary farewell, and exited the house, hopping down the steps to the drive. His golden hair was slicked to the side of his face within seconds.

"Alec?" He called out. The hill the driveway led into was void of any signs of life. In fact, the entire hill seemed empty: there were no signs of any new arrivals. It was like his brothers had never arrived at all. "_Shit_." Jace had a suspicion of what had happened. He began to make his way down the road slowly, almost scooting down the hill on his ass when it became too steep and slippery. The guardrail where the road turned was torn open, leaving a path straight down the cliff. He hurried over. Alec's car was a mangled mess at the bottom, on its side with shattered glass all around. There wasn't anyone in the car as far as Jace could see, but he did see two bodies—he almost threw up right then and there—in a tree above the car. The first was Sebastian, his normally blond hair as red as Clary's. He wasn't moving: an ornament on the sickest of trees. Jace felt his heart stutter.

He spotted Alec next, thrown across a branch below Sebastian, bleeding from his head and dangling limply. Jace didn't see Max anywhere, and it was in that moment that he finally looked back down at the car, realizing that the blaring in his ears wasn't his terror, but rather the horn of the car. He gasped shakily, beginning to climb down. His rain-slicked fingers scrabbled on the rocks, causing him to slip down the last five or so feet, skinning his palms in the process. He wiped the blood on his pants and ran to the wreckage. Max, his _baby brother_, was lying mangled on the wheel of the car. His head lay against the horn, as though the angry noise was his swan song. Jace felt his neck for a pulse and was surprised to find one. He shakily pulled out his phone and dialed 911.

After explaining his location and the situation to the cops, he called Clary and filled her in too. She began to cry on the phone, told him she loved him, and said she had to call Izzy and Magnus (a name Jace had yet to match to a face). He held his brother's hand, the wailing sirens of their approaching saviors drowning out everything—even the deathly rain.

"_I should have fucking called him!_" Magnus shouted into the phone. He wasn't really mad at Clary, though, or Izzy, or Jace, or anyone, really. It wasn't anyone's fault. It was this infernal rain. And now Alexander Lightwood could be _dead_. He wanted to punch something. He wanted to go back go that afternoon in the park, where Alec had been alive and warm beneath his fingertips, _breathing_, heart racing, lips moving against Magnus'. He wanted time to freeze there instead of here, where he couldn't even be sure he could hear his own heartbeat anymore.

"I shouldn't have let him go out in the rain!" Izzy proclaimed in anguish.

"Where is he?" Magnus asked into the phone.

"They're on their way to the hospital now," Clary replied. "Jace is with them. I'm kinda stranded in the cabin until the rain lets up… three cheers for _Candy Crush_, I suppose. What other stuff is in here? Here's Scrabble… Chutes and Ladders… all eight of the Harry Potter movies. You two need to go and see Alec and Max and Seb," she finished. "Give them my love. Talk to ya later, Maggie. Love you."

"Love you too, biscuit," he answered, sighing, and put the phone down. "To the Clave Medical Center we go," he said to Isabelle, who nodded and slipped into her high heels. They mutely made their way outside and hailed a cab. It seemed all hope was being pounded into the ground by the rain. Magnus wished he could go back to the first rainshower he'd experienced with Alexander, when they'd been bowled over by that careless biker.

They rode to the hospital in silence, listening to the downbeat of the rain. Magnus' fingers began to drum on his leg against his will, but for once he was lost for lyrics. Isabelle leaned into him as they drove, crying quietly. If he hadn't already been drenched, her tears would've soaked him. The rain coated the window, blocking him from seeing the world pass outside.

"Here y'are," the cab driver drawled sympathetically. "Hope yer friend's okay."

"Thank you," Isabelle sniffed. Magnus paid for the ride and they hurried into the hospital. At the front desk, Izzy told them that she was Alec Lightwood's sister and demanded to see him. The woman told her he was in surgery and they could see him when visiting hours started at nine the next morning.

"Is he okay?" Magnus demanded, shoving past Izzy. "What happened? How bad was he hurt? What about the other two he was with, Max and Sebastian? Are they okay?"

"Max—that's the youngest, right?—will live," the woman said. "He has several broken bones and a bad concussion, and will need a number of stitches. Alexander got lucky. He just needs stitches in his forehead and sprained his ankle tumbling down that tree."

"What about Sebastian?" Isabelle asked, noticing the absence of a report on her friend.

"I'm sorry," the woman sighed, looking down. "We weren't able to save him. He broke his neck in the crash… I'm sure it was painless."

"I need to see Alec," Izzy insisted, voice wobbling as more tears welled up in her eyes.

"I'm sorry, ma'am," the woman told her again. "You have to wait until he's in a better condition."

"What condition is he in now?" Magnus shouted. He supposed he was drawing unnecessary attention, but he didn't care. _His Alexander_ was in the _hospital_, getting stitches in his forehead after being found almost _dead_ in the forest. He didn't give a shit about protocol. "And where's Jace? The blondie who brought him in?"

"We sent him to the waiting area with hot chocolate and a blanket. He was close to contracting hypothermia," the woman said. "Again, I'm truly sorry about this. If I can have your contact information, I'll be in touch as soon as you can see Alexander."

Magnus took a piece of paper and scribbled down his name and phone number. Isabelle did the same, then handed the slip back to the woman and shakily said, "tell my baby brother I love him."

"Do you have any message for Alexander?" she asked Magnus.

"He's not my baby brother," Magnus said flatly. "You can tell him I'm worried about him and that as soon as he wakes up, I'm going to kiss him unconscious again."

The woman blushed at that, nodded and hurried off. Magnus and Isabelle made their way to the waiting area and found Jace, asleep, wrapped in a cutesie blue blanket with clouds on it. He had dark circles around his eyes and his hair was messily stuck to his skin.

"Nice to meet you," said Magnus, realizing just how much he owed Jace Lightwood. "You don't know me. I'm Magnus. I like Alexander very much, if you know what I mean. And I don't say this often, but thank you. Without you, he might be dead."

Jace, obviously, did not respond.

Some time later (Magnus was too worried and out of it to know how long it had been), the same brown-haired nurse came back and told him that Alec was awake and asking to see him. Magnus hadn't believed her at first. Alec's siblings were here too, though admittedly they were asleep, and he wanted to see _Magnus_? He got up and followed the nurse, moving quietly as to avoid waking Jace or Izzy.

"Magnus Bane, right?" The nurse asked timidly. "You're here for your concert?"

"Correct, but I may have discovered other reasons to want to be here," he said vaguely.

"I'm assuming you meant what you said earlier?" She asked, still not looking at him. "About… kissing him?"

"Every word," Magnus said.

"Well, then I'm happy for you. My two best friends in the whole world _finally_ admitted to each other how they felt—I've been watching them pine for each other for _years_ now, but Will and Jem both avoided that by acting like they liked _me_. Needless to say, they've been together for a few months now and it's like the world is sunny again."

Magnus snorted. "Ironic, since it's been raining for two days nonstop and Alexander Lightwood almost died because of it."

"Alexander Lightwood. Like, author of _All the Locked Doors?_" The nurse looked at Magnus with wide eyes.

"The same. Mala having awesome hair was intentional," Magnus grinned.

"Epic. Are you guys, like, the new hottest celebrity couple?"

"If anyone knew that Alec was Alexander Lightwood, then yes, we might be," he explained. "He's kept his identity secret from the general public."

"I see. Well, here's his room. See you later, Magnus Bane."

"Bye…?" Magnus realized he'd never gotten her name.

"Tessa," she grinned, holding her hand out to him. "Tessa Gray."

Magnus pushed the door open and entered the room. Alec was lying there in the bed, looking more disgruntled than anything else. As soon as he saw Magnus, his entire face lit up, then elapsed into worry.

"Magnus! Are you okay? Are Jace and Izzy and Max and Sebastian okay? And Clary?"

Magnus stood in the middle of the room, watching the monitor beep. He realized how lucky Alec had been, surviving such an ordeal. He'd _fallen off a cliff_, for Raziel's sake! He made a measly attempt to breathe evenly, but failed epically and broke down sobbing.

"Alexander, Alexander, I could've lost you!" He cried, running to Alec's side. He grabbed his hand and fell to his knees next to the bed, putting Alec's hand against his forehead. Alec began to absentmindedly comb his fingers through Magnus' silky hair. The contact ripped shivers out of Magnus' skin, and he leaned his forehead on the rail between them. "Oh, Alexander, you scared me so bad…."

"Shh, Magnus, it's okay," Alec whispered. "I'm okay. But what about everyone else?"

"They said Max is fine and Izzy is fine and Jace could've gotten hypothermia because of being an idiot but he's fine and everyone's fine except me and except Sebastian—" Magnus rushed the words out in a single breath, crying harder. "And they said Sebastian was dead and I felt so bad for just feeling relieved that you weren't dead and I know it's not fine and you're probably not okay anymore and I want you to be okay even though nobody is ever really okay anymore but that doesn't change anything and—"

Alec put his hand on Magnus' face, tilted his head up, and brought their lips together. The kiss was anything but explosive, but Magnus felt his heart explode anyway.

"Shut up," he said into Magnus' mouth. "Slow down. Tell me what happened."

"I can't," Magnus breathed, a sob constricting his throat. "All I know is that you left to help Sebastian and Max settle into a house in the mountains, and it was raining too hard to be safe. You were gone for too long so I was going to call you, but Izzy said you were probably just hanging out with your friend and little brother, so I didn't. Next thing I know, Clary calls me up crying and says you were in the hospital with Max and Sebastian, that there'd been a crash and nobody knew exactly what had happened. So Izzy and I came straight here. I wanted to see you right away, but they said you were getting stitches and we couldn't. We asked what had happened. They said Max was okay and you were okay, but that Sebastian was dead...I must've fallen asleep, because just now Tessa, that nurse, came and got me and brought me here."

Alec's blue eyes widened. Magnus felt the need to tread water, even though the only ocean was trapped inside Alec's gaze; there was more depth in those eyes than all the world's oceans combined. And apparently not even Alec could hold all the world's oceans in his eyes, for a rush of water poured down his face, and his slender body shook with forceful sobs.

"Alexander, I'm sorry," Magnus choked out, sitting up on his knees. He put his arms around Alec and let him nuzzle into his shoulder.

"It's my fault… I shouldn't have left them in the car when I went to say hi to Jace and Clary! If I'd been there—"

"You couldn't have done anything to stop a car on a steep hill in a flood," Magnus said comfortingly.

"That just makes me feel worse!" Alec yelled. "Sebastian wasn't supposed to just… _die_!" He sank against his pillows, becoming suddenly weak. "I feel like I failed him, Magnus."

"You didn't fail anyone, sweetheart," Magnus said, pressing a kiss to Alec's forehead, then the bridge of his nose between his eyes, then the tip of his nose, then right against the top of his lip, and finally full on his mouth. Alec automatically pulled him closer, and Magnus leaned into him despite the horrible way such a position arched his back. It was like Alec had a gravitational pull of his own, and no matter how close Magnus got, it always seemed to pull him closer. Not that he was complaining. He tightened his arms around Alec.

"Get off the floor, you dolt," Alec growled against his lips, and pulled Magnus up by the collar of his hoodie. Magnus obliged readily, coming to sit next to Alec in the bed. As soon as he made himself comfortable, he and Alec were on each other again, as though the world would stop spinning if they separated.

"Hey, Alec, they said we could come in even though it's not visiting—" Jace started to say, then stopped mid-sentence and began to laugh. "So _this_ is the famous Sparkles the Wonder Cat I've heard so much about! He's not very sparkly right now."

"_Sparkles the Wonder Cat?_" Izzy and Magnus exclaimed in unison.

"That is so much dumber than Magno!" Magnus groaned.

"I know!" Izzy exclaimed gleefully. "I told you! Jace is the king of dumb nicknames!"

"Yes, bow down, peasants!" Jace chuckled. "Magnus, right? Don't you dare hurt my brother. If he so much as stubs his toe in your presence, I'll come after you with an axe, got it?"

"If he stubs his toe in my presence, I'll go after the offending piece of furniture with an axe," Magnus replied with a straight face.

"Okay, Alec, you can keep him," Jace said with a sense of finality.

"Thanks, Jace," Alec snickered. "Have you been to see Max?"

"Yeah. He's a fighter, he'll pull through," Izzy sighed. "He was just devastated to hear about Sebastian. I haven't called Mom or Dad yet. Do you want me to?"

"It's not like they'd come," Alec said. "Besides, I have everything I need right here." He smiled around at his siblings, then up at Magnus, who grinned back at him with enough warmth to light up the galaxy.

"What do you mean, 'the brakes weren't on?'" Simon inquired angrily.

"I mean someone tampered with the brakes," Luke answered.

"Why would anyone do that?" Simon was with Luke near the site of the crash. The rest of the cops were still inspecting the car and the tree it had hit, and the hill, and the broken guardrail.

"That's what we're trying to find out, kiddo," Luke told him. "All I can say is this was no accident. If the car had been working normally, it wouldn't have broken clean through the rail like that. And the mere fact that the guardrail isn't ripped up is suspicious, too; it's almost like someone unscrewed the section beforehand."

"What's going on?" Simon was beginning to feel scared. He didn't like smart people who used their intelligence to wreak havoc. He preferred smart people who liked to geek out with him over science, physics, conspiracy theories, and Star Wars. People like Max Lightwood, for example.

"I'm thinking someone set this up to impair Sebastian Verlac," Luke said grimly.

"But this is Alec's car," Simon said in confusion. "Sebastian just got here last night. Alec drove them up here because they're staying with Clary's family in the cabin. Right, Jon? Wasn't that the plan?"

Jonathan Morgenstern, Clary's half-brother, frowned. "Yes," he answered. "That's Alec's car? I could've sworn it was Jace's. I got so worried when he wasn't here when I woke up. I guess seeing the car in the ditch made me jump to conclusions. Is Jace okay?

"Yep," Simon answered. "He's in the hospital with Alec and Max and Sebastian. Besides, he has a bunch of bumper stickers on his car. And I know this one's Alecs; there's a scratch in the paint here from the time Izzy and I almost crashed into a light post because I swerved to avoid hitting a raccoon. That's the last time Alec let us borrow his car."

Jonathan let out a laugh. "I suppose it could be worse. Alec's okay, right?"

"Yes, Alec is fine, as is Max," Luke told him. "But Sebastian is dead. His neck was broken."

Jonathan put his hands over his mouth. Simon thought it looked like the guy was about to start crying; when Sebastian and Alec had dated, Jon had been best friends with Sebastian. It was almost like they were the same person. (_A/N: Is it bad that this made me laugh?)_

"Hey, Jon, it'll be okay," Simon said. Jonathan hugged him, showing the lovable kid side of his that rarely came out around other people. Luke crossed his arms and gazed down at the mangled car.

"Luke?" Simon asked. "Whatcha thinking about?"

Luke sighed. "That someone probably wants Alec dead."

* * *

**A/N: Don't kill me! *nervous but gleeful laughter***

**As a writer, I respect all well-written characters (even the ones who are total bitches) so I'm doing my best to keep their personalities the same while making them good people... and attempt to make them not too OOC. Even if one of them wants Alec dead! Or so it seems… all will be revealed in the coming chapters. And no, it's not Valentine. So… who do you think it is? Chocolate-covered strawberries to anyone who gets it right! Have an awesome day, people! :)**


	11. Ducks, Doors, and Demon Pox?

**Hey… it's been a long week for me. But I'm alive (I think) so here's chapter eleven. Thanks to all of you who reviewed, and for those of you who are reading this but not reviewing, HELLO! I know you're out there! I won't bite! :)**

**And also, if you're expecting a reply to your review, well, you might get one. But fanfiction is being a bitch and is making my life difficult, so I can't, and have to resort to the lame old ****_replying in the author's note! _****Yay! I'm tired. Hope your week was easier than mine.**

* * *

"Babe, he's gonna be fine," Camille said, massaging Magnus' shoulders. "He just needs rest."

Magnus sighed. Ever since returning home, he'd been exhausted. He'd wanted to stay in the hospital with Alexander, but he couldn't. He'd come back to his loft exhausted to find Camille, one of his closest friends, waiting for him with Netflix starting up on the TV and two mugs of hot chocolate… though he had to admit, it _was_ more marshmallows than hot chocolate, the way Camille always made it. They way he liked it.

"I know," he told her. "But I'm worried sick about him."

"As you should be," she noted. "Some people are too important to not worry about. I'm glad you found him, Mags."

"Me too, Cam. I'm just scared I'm gonna lose him."

"Nonsense," she scoffed. "Tell ya what. Either I can leave you to wallow in self-pity and uncalled-for worry, or I can call up the gang and we can all sit around and wallow with you. Which would you prefer?"

"The second one." Magnus supposed it couldn't hurt to let his friends in.

"Great!" Camille stood up and pulled out her phone. She texted for a minute, and in the space of a breath, there was a pounding on the door of the loft. She strode over to open it, bare feet pattering on the floor. Her long blonde hair curled down past her waist, flowing as she moved. It contrasted rather nicely with her pink pajamas, Magnus had to admit. Ragnor and Catarina shoved into the loft faster than Magnus could stand up.

"We were already on our way over when we got the text," Cat explained. "Do you want anyone else over, too?"

"The more the merrier," Magnus smiled sadly. "I need people around to keep me from breaking into the hospital to see Alexander."

"Gotta admire that dedication, honey," Camille teased, making her way into the kitchen to prepare hot chocolate for Ragnor and Cat, who went to change into the pajamas they kept in the loft for spontaneous pajama parties such as this.

When they came back out, there was another, politer knock at the door. He opened it to find Raphael, backed by two more men. They were both rather tall, but the one on the left looked remarkably like Alexander. The only difference was that he held himself with an air of confidence, something Alec lacked.

"We work with Catarina," Alexander's look-alike said by way of explanation. "I'm Will Herondale, this is Jem Carstairs."

"Pleasure," Magnus nodded, stepping inside to invite them in. Then he remembered Tessa Gray talking about her two friends Will and Jem, who had finally gotten together. "Do you, perchance, know Tessa Gray?"

Jem, who was somewhat of a willowy man with silver eyes and hair, chuckled. "Been friends with her ever since we met," he explained. "She's the reason William and I are where we are today."

"Lovely," Magnus smiled. "She's a nurse, right? I met her yesterday."

"Good to know," Will said. "But since she works in the hospital, the only reason you would've met her is if something had happened. Is everything alright?"

"My boyfriend was in a car accident," Magnus admitted, then almost cringed because he still hadn't asked Alec to be his boyfriend. Their eyes immediately flooded with sympathy. "His close friend was killed and his younger brother was injured badly, but will be okay. I'm worried sick about him. That's why Cam and Rags and Cat are here and inviting people over."

"Rags?" Will repeated incredulously, looking over to where Raphael was pecking Ragnor on the cheek.

"Yep. We're the dynamic trio—Mags, Rags, and Cat," Magnus grinned. "Sometimes joined by my fabulous sisterfriend, Camille."

Camille, upon hearing her name, held up a peace sign without breaking her enthusiastic conversation with Catarina.

"Sisterfriend?" Jem repeated.

"What are you from, the 1870s?" Magnus asked jokingly. "It's a term we human beings use nowadays to describe best friends who are like sisters. Girls call them 'girlfriends,' but if a guy says he's going to hang out with 'the girlfriends'... you can imagine. So she's my sisterfriend. Platonic soulmate. Better half. Whatever you prefer."

Jem allowed a smile at that. "Cheers to sisterfriends," he said.

"Ah, but for that, we'll need drinks!" Magnus exclaimed joyously. "Cam, how many hot chocolates you got?"

"Enough for me, you, Rags, Cat, Raphael, Jem, and Will," she called. "Y'all get your gorgeous asses in here! We have some serious tag-team moping to accomplish!"

Everyone filed into the green living room. Camille had matched mugs to people again, giving everyone a mug that matched something about them. Magnus' was rainbow glitter and read _Can't Think Straight._ Catarina's was blue with a white cat face. Ragnor held a green mug that said _Bitch Please _with white polka dots. Camille herself had a purple mug, but Magnus couldn't read what it said from where he sat, so he looked to Will and Jem. Will's mug had a duck on it, and as soon as he noticed this, he paled and turned it around so that the duck part was facing away from him. Jem cracked up at this, reading his own mug. It read, in sparkly green calligraphy, _I know, I'm such a gem_. Raphael's black mug had squiggly red lines trailing from two dots, with the words _Bite Me_ in white over top of them.

"Camille, where do you find these mugs?" Magnus asked. "I know I don't possibly own mugs with this many puns on them."

"Magic, babe," she shrugged, turning hers so he could read it. _T.G.I.F: This Girl Is Fabulous_.

"Got it," he laughed. All seven of them clinked their mugs together.

"I'll have you know, William doesn't like ducks," Jem informed them.

"Don't like them?" Will looked offended. "They're the monsters of this earth! Devil's spawn! I almost think they're the cause of the latest demon pox outbreak!"

"Demon pox?" Camille wrinkled her nose. "Never mind. Maggie, tell us about your pretty boy!"

"Pretty boy's name is _Alexander_, Camille, and he's _beautiful_," Magnus said. "He's got the most gorgeous eyes, like you can't even believe it, and his laugh is mesmerizing and he's got four different smiles that all mean different things. He loves his younger siblings to death and is good at everything he attempts to do… painting, photography, writing, you name it. But he doesn't seem to think he's epic, either, he's so modest about it."

"You've got it _bad_," Ragnor chuckled, leaning back into the couch. "But no, Maggie's right. I met the kid. He's probably too good for you, Bane."

Camille giggled. "Is it wrong that I find all of this adorable?"

"No," Catarina said, at the same time as Magnus went "Yes." This caused the blonde woman to frown, shrug, and sip her marshmallow-dominant hot chocolate.

"Well too bad, cause it's pretty damn adorable."

Magnus' phone rang, and he didn't recognize the number, so he hesitated a bit before answering. "Hello?"

"Hi, is this Magnus Bane?"

"Yes."

"Alexander Lightwood is okay to leave the hospital," Tessa Gray said. "His sister is here with him, and she said she'd rather have you than a cab… please come to the hospital at your earliest convenience."

"On my way now," Magnus said, already walking to the door. Tessa hung up and he looked at his confused friends. "Guys, I'll be back sometime!"

A chorus of goodbyes came from the majority of his guests, the only outliers being a noncommittal grunt from Ragnor and Camille's gleeful suggestion that they dig around in Magnus' photo albums. He rolled his eyes as he exited the loft.

It was still pouring rain as Magnus drove to the hospital. Alec, Jace, and Izzy were sitting around in the waiting room, Jace ruffled from his night in a chair and Izzy looking relieved but anxious, two contradicting emotions Magnus wasn't sure how she pulled off. Alexander himself was perfect. Maybe he had six stitches on the left side of his forehead and maybe he was paler than usual, and maybe his hair looked like he'd just rolled out of bed, but he was perfect nonetheless. Magnus hurried to hug him.

"How's Max?" He asked, gripping Alec's arms.

"Holding on," Isabelle smiled. "He can't leave yet, since he still needs IVs and can't really move, but the doctors said it should only be about a week until he can leave. Then he'll have to take it easy for a while, obviously."

"Does he know what happened?" Magnus asked. "Alexander told me he just found the car and them over the cliff. Max was probably in the car when it happened."

"Clary's stepdad is on the police force," Izzy said. "He told Simon and Simon told her and she told me that apparently the brakes had been tampered with. He doesn't think it was an accident."

"Who would try to get Alexander into a car crash?" Magnus exclaimed.

"The brakes were working fine when we got there," Alec told them, burying his face in Magnus' un-gelled and glitter-less hair. He made a soft, contented noise and nuzzled further. Magnus made a mental note to leave his hair down more often. "I missed you," he whispered. Somehow both Izzy and Jace heard, and Izzy giggled while Jace smiled and shook his head.

"Look at that: Wondercat has turned my big brother into a total muffin."

Some thoughts invaded Magnus' mind of various ways to combine Alec and muffins. He didn't voice any of them.

"_Aku juga merindukanmu_," Magnus breathed into Alec's ear.

"What does that mean?" Alec wondered.

"I missed you too," Magnus replied, and tapped Alec's nose. "In Indonesian." He kissed the author's chin and let him go. Immediately he felt incomplete again, changed his mind, and brought him back into the embrace. Isabelle got a kick out of that. He scowled at her over Alec's shoulder.

"You guys are in pajamas already," he realized. "How'd you like to just come over to my place? The rest of my friends are already there."

"Ooh, will I _finally_ get to meet Camille?" Isabelle gushed.

"Yep," Magnus grinned. "I'll send her a text and tell her to get three more hot chocolates ready." He pulled out his phone and did just that. She sent him a heart and a thumbs up as a response, and he replied with a kissy face, earning a laugh from her. Then he escorted Alec and his siblings to his car and drove back to the loft. On the way, he wondered if any of them were allergic to cats. _Oh well, we'll just have to wait and see_, he thought. _I hope they don't traumatize the Chairman_.

"Maggie, you took way too long to get back here!" Camille scolded when he opened the door and ushered his friends in. "You'd think you joined a circus on the way!" She stopped and looked at Jace. "Never mind. That's exactly what you did. Hi, I'm Camille!" She gave a small wave and a grin. Her oddly pointy canines seemed to spook Jace.

"I'm Izzy!" Isabelle responded enthusiastically. "And these are my brothers, Alec and Jace. Magnus has told me about you. We _need_ to go to the mall sometime!"

"You're speaking my language, girlfriend," Camille's grin widened. "Maybe we could drag these poor boys along for makeovers, yes?"

"I've tried," Isabelle sighed. "Alec disappears into thin air and Jace goes, but then usually ends up flirting with whatever girl is there until she forgets what she's supposed to be doing."

"Well, they don't stand a chance against me. I've got vamp strength." Camille winked. "Hot chocolate, lovelies?"

She and Izzy made their way into the kitchen, chatting. Magnus was glad his two sisterfriends hit it off. Jace just looked confused at this point, and became even more so when Will approached him, still holding his duck coffee mug.

"Hello, fellow citizen," Will said. "My name is Will Heronda—"

"Fellow citizen, my ass!" Jace exclaimed, hiding behind Alec. "There's a _duck_ on your mug! Get it away! You are conspiring with the enemy!"

Will seemed to realize this too and, with a mortified expression, lobbed the mug across the room without looking. Jem caught it with one hand without breaking his conversation with Cat.

"Thank you!" He heaved a relieved sigh. "I fear I may have been hypnotized by the duck's devilish forces! You have freed me!"

"I can't imagine what might've happened to you if I hadn't," Jace said, concernedly patting Will's shoulder.

"I most likely would've contracted demon pox," Will mused. "Ducks transmit that disease like mosquitoes transmitted the black plague."

"Mosquitoes didn't transmit the black plague," Magnus heard Alec mutter under his breath. He forced back a chuckle.

"And demon pox doesn't exist," Magnus whispered back. Then, louder, he said, "I'm glad you two are getting acquainted, but I can assure you, there are no actual ducks in this apartment."

"Thank the Angel," Jace sighed. Camille came back with two mugs, which she handed to Jace and Alec. Jace's said _Sasshole_ in fancy calligraphy, while Alec's was white and read _I before E… except when your foreign neighbor Keith receives eight counterfeit beige sleighs from feisty caffeinated weightlifters. Weird._ Magnus watched his expression shift as he read it, first confused, then shocked, then amused.

"Why do you have so many funny coffee mugs?"

Instead of answering, Magnus said, "You think they're funny?"

Alec shrugged. "Cheesy funny, but yes." He sipped the drink and made another hilarious and kissable face. "This is literally just a cup of marshmallows."

"That's Camille for you," Magnus said gleefully. "C'mon. You need to meet the rest of the gang."

* * *

Later that night, after Jace, Will, Jem, Ragnor, Catarina, and Raphael had left, Izzy and Camille were sitting on the couch in a heated conversation about outfits on fictional characters, and Alec and Magnus were just sort of chilling, unable to speak over the girls. Eventually they ended up heading to Magnus' room, where they both sat cross-legged on his yellow sheets. Alec was surprised to see a very battered copy of _All the Locked Doors_ sitting on Magnus' nightstand. He picked it up, running his finger over his name on the cover, then over the somber picture of Mala holding a giant key and looking up as light streamed over him and tears ran down his face. _Max had drawn the first draft of this_, he remembered.

"How many times have you _read_ this?" He asked Magnus, who looked up.

"Oh, don't ask that. I haven't been counting. Cat says it somewhere around sixty but I suspect it's higher."

"Damn, Magnus," Alec breathed.

"I have it memorized," Magnus grinned wolfishly. "Quiz me!"

Alec flipped to page 30 and put his finger on the first line. It started in the middle of a sentence. "Okay, what's the first sentence on page 30?"

Magnus paused for a moment. "First _complete_ sentence? It starts somewhere in the middle of the High Emperor going off on Mala."

"First complete sentence," Alec relented.

"_At least you have proof I didn't burn him_," Magnus laughed. "Without context, that's actually pretty funny."

"You're right," Alec said. "I'm going to flip to a random page and read the first complete sentence with no context."

He let the book drop open. It landed on page 264, and the first sentence was Killian saying, "_Let me get this straight: we met because of a broken watering can_?" To which Mala replied, "_That would be true if there was anything straight about this, angel._" Alec found himself glancing up at Magnus, who was scribbling something in a neon pink notebook. He seemed to feel Alec's eyes, though, for he looked up and smiled, eyes flaring with affection.

"Alexander Lightwood, you inspire me," he said, putting a last note in his book with a flourish. "I've written multiple songs since I've met you."

Alec figured _you inspire me_ was one of the highest compliments one could get from a famous musician.

"You inspire me, too," he said, looking at his knees. Magnus closed his book and put it aside, then tackled Alec down into the pillows, snuggling up to him and closing his eyes.

"Magnus?"

"Yes, dear?" Magnus didn't open his eyes, letting his arms fall to either side of Alec's chest. His forehead rested against the side of Alec's neck, causing his breath to tickle his collarbone.

"What are you doing?"

"I'm going to sleep, but I don't want you to leave." He said it like it was the most natural thing in the world. And maybe it was. Or maybe it could be. Alec shifted slightly, adjusting Magnus more comfortably on top of him, and closed his eyes as well. Magnus waited until he was sure Alec was asleep before he moved, got up on his elbows, and kissed Alec's mouth lightly. Alec pretended the contact hadn't woken him up, but one of his hands subconsciously lifted to rest on Magnus' back. His skin seemed to melt into Magnus, as though they were never meant to be apart.

It almost scared him how much he was okay with that.

* * *

**A/N: So it's about one in the morning. I regret nothing. Hope this doesn't suck too bad! There will be more general Malec in the future. If you liked the whole group of friends, let me know, and I can fit them in again sometime. And the car accident was only the beginning of the trouble for these poor babies! *evil laughter***

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(And to NataleeAndDal: Those were some insightful guesses! I can't tell you if you're right or not, but I can say it wasn't Camille. I'm trying to make her NOT a bitch… hope I'm doing okay. :) As for the POVs, I'll most likely stick to Alec and Magnus, with some occasional Isabelle and another character when it's necessary. And if you're wondering why I'm doing this here, it's because fanfiction sucks and isn't letting me directly reply to reviews. Love that.)


	12. Some Good and Bad Things

**Heeelllllloooooooo! I know, I know: I have a shitty updating schedule, but high school is not the most helpful in that department. I've also been caught up with reading other Malec fics on here and laughing at the hilarity of some of them. I could come up with more excuses, but you probably don't want to read them. So now the usual, I own my stuff and nothing else, thanks to those who reviewed (you make me happy) yada yada yada. **

**And to AnonymousAlaska: Thank you! I will admit that no, I hadn't thought about it; I mainly write the songs for fun. And I am sorry about poor Sebastian… *goes into corner and cries of guilt* but it was necessary. And since you aren't the only one to think of Robert, he ****_does _****have something to do with it, but not _all _of ****it. He will actually be a character in the next few chapters, and believe me, I am dreading writing them.**

* * *

Isabelle realized that Alec and Magnus were no longer in the living room at around one in the morning. She and Camille had apparently been talking for four hours, and she hadn't even noticed.

"Where did our favorite boys go?" Camille wondered aloud.

"They probably went to sleep," Isabelle shrugged. Then she realized Alec and Magnus were more than friends, and sleep probably meant something much different from what she'd originally thought.

"Let's go check," Camille said. "If the door's locked, we go away, no harm done."

"I like the sound of that," Izzy grinned, and the two women padded down the hallway. Izzy didn't know where anything was in this apartment, but Camille stopped outside a slightly open door. The lights were off and there was no sound coming from within.

"I guess they really are asleep," the blonde woman frowned. Izzy stood on her toes and Camille ducked down so they could both look through the door. What they saw made both of them start giggling. Alec and Magnus were, for all intents and purposes, tied in a knot, arms and legs holding each other close. Magnus' head was under Alec's chin, and Alec had one hand in his silky black hair, running his fingers through the strands like water. Even if the position could've been suggestive and was romantic to the point of overflowing, for some reason it was the most innocent thing Isabelle had ever seen.

"Awwww," she and Camille both cooed, simultaneously pulling out their cell phones to snap pictures of the couple.

"That has got to be the cutest thing ever," Camille sighed.

"Alec is _never_ this affectionate to anyone," Izzy informed her.

"They're good for each other," Camille agreed. "I hope this one doesn't go down in flames like Imasu."

"Who?"

"One of Magnus' exes… he lived in Peru and was a total dick."

"_Was_?" Isabelle noticed.

"Yes, _was_. He _did_ live in Peru and he _was_ a total dick… when we knew him. Now that he's in the past, he deserves past tense."

"Got it," Izzy nodded, and they closed Magnus' door gently, but not before Chairman Meow darted through and curled up on top of both Magnus and Alec. Magnus' hand lifted to stroke his cat once before he tucked his arm against Alec again.

Making their way back to the living room, Camille and Izzy showed each other the pictures they had taken. Both of them got some pretty decent ones, which they sent to each other, still giggling. They flopped down on opposite sides of Magnus' giant fluffy couch, and the fact that it was after one in the morning suddenly made Izzy quite a bit tired.

"You know, I think Alec and Magnus had the right idea," Camille said sleepily, crawling next to Izzy and lying down with her head on Izzy's shoulder. "Night, Isabelle."

Izzy smiled, relaxing against the couch and her new friend. "Goodnight, Camille."

* * *

Magnus woke up with his cat on his head and his head on Alec's chest. Chairman Meow disproved of the movement with a disdainful flick of his tail and clambered off of the bed. Alec was still asleep, arms around Magnus, his head sideways on the pillow. Magnus' heart surged looking at him, followed by a flood of shocked cold, causing him to shiver: the _author_ of _All the Locked Doors_ was _in his bed_. Saying he was floored would be a drastic understatement.

"Good morning, love," he said, kissing Alec's nose before he slipped out of bed and went to get dressed. Alec stirred, then shot upright.

"Agh!" He yelled. "Oh god. I forgot where I was for a..." He looked around. "Magnus, why am I in your bedroom?"

"Because we came in here last night after my friends got too loud, and then we fell asleep. And generally people don't teleport in their sleep."

"I bet Jace does," Alec frowned. "I remember once he woke up on the floor in my room and he swore he hadn't moved from his bed."

"People sleepwalk," Magnus shrugged.

"Where's the fun in that?" Alec swung his legs out of bed and stretched. Magnus tried very hard not to stare at the gentle curve of his back as he picked out his outfit for the day: bubblegum pink leather pants, a black button-up shirt with a white diamond pattern, golden dangly earrings, and the weight of Mt. Everest in glittering necklaces. He was fully prepared to change in front of Alec—he was by no means self-conscious, and anything that could make the blue-eyed beauty blush was a win in his book—but the author muttered something about his sister and stalked out of the room. Shrugging, Magnus got dressed, slipped into his sparkly four-inch platform boots, and headed to his bathroom to do his hair and makeup.

Emerging victorious—and gorgeous—from the bathroom some time later, he strutted into his living room to see Alec making coffee. _Raziel bless him_, Magnus thought, and then, _I think I want to keep this one_. Isabelle and Camille were still asleep, cuddled up on his couch. He thought they looked like puppies, and decided to take a picture of them, their hair spread out around their relaxed shoulders. Magnus couldn't put into words how ecstatic he was that Izzy and Camille, his two best female friends, got along so well. He could hardly imagine a world where passionate Camille and enthusiastic Izzy could not stand each other, thus he was gladder than ever that he'd been placed in this one.

He made his way into the kitchen and sat on the counter, watching Alec. He turned, two mugs in his hands, and seemed surprised to find Magnus there already. With a sheepish grin he said, "I don't know how you like your coffee, you'll have to spice it up yourself."

Magnus laughed and added chocolate syrup, cream, and sugar to my coffee. Alec, holding true to his habits, kept his black, which he found oddly adorable.

"Why did you keep me for the night?" He asked, not looking at Magnus' face.

"Why did you let me?" Magnus countered, smirking cockily.

Alexander blinked. "You were on top of me, Magnus, it wasn't like I had much of a choice."

"Did you like having me on top of you?" Magnus purred, leaning towards him. Alec shuddered visibly, and Magnus wasn't sure if it was because the apartment was cold, because he was uncomfortable, or because desire was running its freezing fingers over his skin in ways Magnus so longed to.

_Shut up, you can't just ravish the author of All the Locked Doors_, the logical side of him protested. He told his logical side to go fuck itself.

"You _are_ pretty cute when you sleep," Alec grinned. "So yes, I suppose I did rather enjoy having you on top of me."

_The author of All the Locked Doors just called you cute_, his logical side chimed in again. _**Now**_ _you can ravish him_.

Magnus put his coffee down and licked his lips. He stepped forward, pinning Alec against the counter, body flush against his own.

"You can't get away with talking like that," he growled in Alec's ear, hands encircling his slim waist as their lips met, and—finally, _finally_—it developed into more than chaste, straying past careful and entering a territory of burning passion, Alec curling his hands into Magnus' soft hair, dragging a moan from the singer's lips; Alec playing with his hair was going to be the death of him. He stepped even closer, pressing their bodies together, shoving Alec up onto the counter and using his hands to guide his long legs around his waist. Magnus could feel it escalating to reach the same level of the similar events that had happened in the park, and apparently Alec could do, because he leaned even deeper into the kisses, nipping at Magnus' lips until he had no choice but to part them if he wanted to keep his sanity. He tilted his head farther to the side, urging Alec's tongue to dance with his.

An outburst of giggling caused the two men to jump apart and turn around. Izzy and Camille were sitting at the table with their phones out, likely photographing or even videotaping the scene. They had also stolen Magnus' and Alec's coffees respectively, and were presently sipping them through their devilish grins.

"I think I like this relationship," Izzy said to Camille.

"I couldn't agree more, babe," Camille agreed. They clinked cups and lowered their phones, giggling some more. Alec, red-faced and disheveled, shot a glare at his sister.

"We thought you were asleep," he muttered.

"Evidently," Izzy snarked. Magnus frowned at the girls.

"You took our coffees," he noted.

"You seemed to be getting your kick start from a different source this morning," Camille said easily. "We didn't think you needed them anymore."

"There has been an abundance of the royal 'we' this morning," Izzy announced. "First Malec, and now you."

"_Malec?_" Alec exclaimed. "You're making up words now?"

"It's a _ship name_," Izzy groaned. "You know, Magnus plus Alec equals Malec? Killian and Mala are Killiala? You're an _author_, Alec, you should know about those."

"Alec's an author?" Camille looked confused. "What did you write?"

Alec looked uncomfortable again, and Magnus wished the girls would spontaneously combust or something so he could get back to kissing him.

"Camille Belcourt, you are looking at the gorgeous author of _All the Locked Doors_," Magnus proclaimed proudly. "Camille's jaw dropped and hung there, eyes wide open. She almost spilled her coffee.

"I didn't think Alexander Lightwood was such a _person_!" She shrieked. "Oh my god, I walked in on Maggie making out with _Alexander Lightwood_!? Oh my God! _Oh my God!_ I have pictures on my phone of _Magnus Bane snuggling in his bed with Alexander Lightwood!?_"

Alexander Lightwood looked almost as shocked as Camille did. "This is why I never did public things," he stammered. "This exactly."

"Because people would videotape us making out?" Magnus said slyly.

"No!" Alec yelped. "Because people would freak out like _this_. I'm still the same Alec you met yesterday, Camille."

"But now you're tongue-wrestling with my best friend, and you're a world-famous author, and _god_, can I pressure you into writing a sequel to All the Locked Doors?"

"No, you can't," he sighed. "But you can pressure me into bouncing story ideas off of you, and you can be one of the people I come to to ask if those ideas are shit."

"I'm honored." Camille actually did look honored. "Come on, Izzy, let's leave our favorite boys here all alone—"

"—and go to Alicafe or something," Izzy finished her sentence in a heartbeat. "I'm game. I'm in the mood for an insane drink."

"You don't suppose they serve blood?"

"If they did, would you actually drink it?" Izzy laughed as she and Camille started to leave the apartment.

"A vampire's got to keep her strength up," Camille joked. "It takes energy being this fabulous."

"I don't think you're the one who'll be needing energy," Izzy said suggestively, raising her eyebrows at Magnus and Alec as she closed the door. "We'll be back in a few hours, boys."

"So, _Alexander_, what scandalous activities do you want to get up to today?" Magnus wondered innocently, sliding his hand down Alec's leg. Alec melted into his hand, falling against Magnus' chest, arms winding around his neck, and they were kissing again. Alec tasted like what Magnus thought magic might, sweet and wild, leaving electric shocks wherever he touched. No, scratch that—Alec _was_ magic.

And he made Magnus feel magical too.

* * *

"I'm gonna stop by Alec's apartment!" Jace called as he was heading out the door. Clary acknowledged this with a shout of 'okay,' and Jonathan just grunted, picking a splinter out of his hand. He'd just returned from Alicante himself, on business he'd opted not to discuss. Jace got the distinct feeling that Clary's brother didn't like him, and he'd just been in a worse mood since the crash. They hadn't heard from Alec since the party last night, but Jace knew Alec wouldn't still be asleep, so he figured his brother wouldn't mind if he dropped by.

It was still raining, but the road wasn't flooded, so Jace decided to risk driving. He wasn't about to ruin his hair _walking_ to downtown Alicante, in any case. So he set out, carefully inching the car down the curving mountain street.

He passed the crash site and tried not to look until he passed, realizing he'd been holding his breath only after that turn was behind him. He made it to Alicante without event and pulled up next to Alec's building. Jace didn't understand why Alec wanted to live in an apartment when he could practically afford Buckingham Palace, but he wasn't about to question his brother's lifestyle choices. It wasn't like Alec was committing crimes; he was just choosing not to spend his money ridiculously. Jace respected him for that.

He marched up the stairs and knocked on the door, frowning when Alec didn't answer it with his usual half-frown, wide blue eyes, and messy hair. Deathly quiet rose from inside. Jace tried the handle and pushed the door open. Almost immediately, something large and obviously heavy crashed to the floor in front of him, where he would've been standing had he just barged in… had he been entering his own home.

_Looks like our mystery attacker hasn't given up_, Jace thought, edging around the broken table top—yes, it appeared as though someone had taken the top clean off of Alec's coffee table. He entered the apartment and made a loud, shocked sound at the sight that greeted him. The lamp was on its side, the bulb cracked, the shade dented. There were rips in the couch that looked like they'd been made with an axe or a katana or something. In the kitchen, glasses were smashed all over the floor and the counter, and the stove was on. Jace turned it off and again barely managed to jump back as more glasses and plates plummeted to the tile floor.

Jace had seen enough. He'd almost been killed twice and he'd been in Alec's apartment for five minutes. He called Alec and paced desperately while the phone rang.

"Hello?" Alec sounded breathless, but at least he'd answered.

"Alec! Where are you? Your apartment is trashed and it's like someone set up multiple traps to injure or kill you! Your coffee table almost fell on my _head_!"

"What?" Alec sounded more awake now. "Jace, I haven't been back to my apartment! I'm at Magnus' place!"

"Thank the Angel," Jace sighed. "I'm coming over."

He heard Alec mutter something to Magnus, something that sounded an awful lot like _We'd better not be in this position when he gets here. _Jace decided to pretend he hadn't heard that. It wasn't his business if his author brother wanted to fuck a famous singer.

"I won't hurry," he told Alec, grinning mischievously. "You don't have to worry about me bursting in on anything, big brother."

Alec groaned, and he sounded exasperated, so Jace hoped it was because of his comment and not something Magnus was doing. He hung up and made his way out of the apartment, shutting the door behind him. It was a ten minute drive to Magnus' building, and he drove leisurely. He arrived and ascended the stairs, knocking on the loft doors loudly. They were opened in a minute or so by Alec, who looked surprisingly normal. Magnus was sitting in a catlike position on the kitchen island, kicking his bare feet against the side. His white cat, who Jace remembered had a ridiculous name, like Neil Catrick Harris or something, was sitting on his head, surveying the room like a king. Magnus was on the phone.

"Yes, dear, you can come home now," he was saying. "No really. Jace is here. Yes, see you soon, babe. Love you too."

Jace had to try hard not to raise an eyebrow at the endearments and affection in his voice.

"Camille and Izzy are on their way back too," he informed them. Alec nodded, looking unbothered, so Jace figured Magnus probably said he loved everyone and called many people things like 'dear' and 'darling' and 'babe.'

"Why were you at my apartment?" Alec asked.

"Wanted to visit you, see how you were doing," Jace shrugged. "Why weren't _you_ at your apartment?"

"Because I can't be in two places at once," Alec said flatly. "I fell asleep here last night and haven't gone home."

"Fair enough," he replied, shrugging. "Izzy is going to assume you and Sparkles here were doing something a little more exciting than sleeping, though."

"Nope. She spent the night here too," Magnus replied. "She and Camille apparently came into my room in the middle of the night and took pictures."

"Tell her to send them to me," Jace snickered.

"I will, honey," Magnus grinned. "Now, tell us about Alexander's apartment."

Jace quickly glanced at Alec—he was _okay_ with Magnus calling him Alexander?—and recounted the story of his adventure at Alec's apartment. When he was done, the cat had walked directly from Magnus' shoulder to Alec's, and was now lounging around his neck like a scarf. Alec reached up and scratched the cat's head, and purring rang through the quiet apartment. The door burst open and two women strode through, brandishing coffee cups and shopping bags.

"How was your morning, babe?" The blonde one asked, grinning as she made her way over to the boys and kissed Magnus on the cheek, then did the same to Alec. Jace's eyebrows were challenging Mount Everest for the highest point in the world by now.

"It was glorious, darling," Magnus replied easily. Izzy laughed like the demon she was, slinging her arm around Jace.

"Good to see you, brother," she said. "Why are you here? I have some bad news."

"So do I."

"Shoot," Izzy said.

"Alec's apartment was totally destroyed," Jace said, at the same time as Izzy blurted, "Dad's in town."

_Well, shit_.

* * *

**A/N: Okay…? This took longer to write than I thought it would. Tell me how I did? And yes, Robert's annoying face will be making an appearance next chapter, which I will hopefully have up within the next few days. Love y'all! :)**


	13. The Descent into Hell

**A/N: Thanks to all of you who reviewed! I'm quite tired today. I did change the summary, if you hadn't noticed. Also, I say that Robert's middle name is Benedict, but I don't know if that's his middle name, so I took creative liberties since I couldn't find his actual middle name. If you know what it is canonically, or if he even has one, correct me!**

**Also guys, a number of you still said that you thought Camille is the "bad guy" in Alec's life, but it isn't her. I'm trying to make her a good character? Robert is definitely part of it, but I can tell you no more…. *walks into shadows dramatically, swishing cape***

**Guest (the one who told me to change the summary) : thanks for your feedback… I think the main reason I put that in the summary was because I don't have much experience writing fanfics, but I'm glad you liked it! And I can assure you, I will finish this. It will take a while but I know how it will end. :) I can back this up with a random fact about me: I have written novels before, and edited them for others. I can accomplish stuff. :D!**

**CC owns characters, I own Magnus' songs, Swinburne owns the poem in the letter, and Taylor Swift owns _You Need to Calm Down,_ kinda obvious but I don't wanna get sued! :D! Goddamn, this was a long A/N. Also, Robert uses some language later on that I wish nobody used. My intent was never to offend anyone.**

* * *

Alec blinked at his siblings. "Dad? As in, _Robert Benedict Lightwood?_"

Izzy nodded depressedly. Jace, although his news was more drastic, looked like Izzy's news was worse.

"Alexander?" Magnus' smooth voice rose behind them. "Why is your father's being in town bad?"

"I'd rather not talk about it right now," he said hesitantly, hoping Magnus wouldn't press the issue. Thankfully, he didn't, just took Alec's hand comfortingly.

"Alright, dear, but as soon as you're willing to talk, I'll listen," he smiled. Izzy and Camille both went '_awwwww_,' and Jace rolled his golden eyes. Alec blushed. Even after spending the better part of the morning making out with Magnus Bane, he still hadn't lost his social awkwardness. Go figure.

"He's here for work," Izzy sighed. "I don't know how long he'll be staying, but when he called me yesterday he said he wanted to see us. I didn't want to lie and tell him you'd moved to Illinois, so I said okay."

"Illinois, Izzy? Really? Why Illinois?" Alec asked irritably.

"First thing that came to my mind," his sister shrugged.

"Do you think he's the one who wrecked your apartment?" Jace asked suddenly.

"Why would he do that?" Magnus frowned.

"I'm not his favorite child," Alec admitted. "When he found out my protagonists were always LGBT, he kinda flipped out and threatened to disown me. Then he figured it wouldn't do me much harm since I'm better off than him and Mom, so he just shunned me." He was surprised at how easy the words came. "Said 'people like me' deserved to burn in Edom."

"Well, baby, lucky for you, I'm practically king of Edom," Magnus said lightly. "So there will be no burning for you." He kissed Alec's cheek.

"I didn't know Edom had a king," Jace said playfully.

"Yeah, it's my dad," Magnus joked. Alec wondered how he could be frivolous about this if his dad was dead, then remembered Magnus being relieved about the development.

"So your dad is Asmodeus," Jace said flatly.

"No, my dad's name was Noah," Magnus replied. "Obviously. If Asmodeus was my dad, I'd be a pretty damn powerful warlock, and look at me. The only magic I can do is with my songs. Unless Alexander has anything to say about that. Is there anything else magical about me, dear?" He asked innocently, but Alec knew everyone else caught the innuendo, and he only blushed in response. Jace raised his eyebrows for the hundredth time that morning.

"So, Izzy, anyway, when did Dad want to meet up?" He wondered.

"Today," she answered hesitantly. "For lunch. In three hours."

Alec groaned. "Okay… at least that gives me time to have and recover from a panic attack before I have to go. Is it all three of us, or just me?"

"All three of us," Izzy answered. "I would invite Clary and Simon and you guys, Cam and Maggie, but I don't think my father would be too partial to that. Maybe next time."

"Oh, I understand perfectly, sweetheart," Magnus replied easily. "I'll probably head to Alicante Park. There was something I wanted to do."

Some lyrics from Magnus' song _Butterflies_ fluttered through his head.

_Oh, we are butterflies_

_Oh, the stars in the daylight sky_

_Oh, your colors strike me down_

_Oh, flood over the moonwashed town_

_Oh, wings fracture on the wall_

_Oh, and I'm laughing as I fall_

_So broken are the most wonderful things_

_Butterfly wings, butterfly wings_

_So fragile are the most beautiful things_

_Butterfly wings, butterfly wings_

Alec took a breath. His heart certainly felt like butterfly wings right about now. In fact, his entire body felt like butterflies, ready to explode out of his chest. He felt the urge to draw that, but he didn't have his sketchbook—it was at his apartment. Oh well. He would've had to go back there anyway, it wasn't like he could just _live_ with Magnus.

"Alright," he said, rather shakily. "I need to drop by my apartment beforehand, though. I'd like to see the damage and I need my sketchbook."

"I'm coming," Magnus said immediately.

"Me too," Jace added. "But if you're going to start making out against all possible surfaces, I'm leaving you there."

"Oh, Goldilocks, we're not _that_ undignified," Magnus scoffed, crossing his arms. His multitude of rings gleamed on his fingers.

"_You're_ the one who wrote the song about how the only thing you need in the world is glitter," Jace retorted.

"What else was I supposed to write a song about? Do you know how publicity works?" Magnus frowned. "I can't write a song saying _Oh, help me, I just need someone to love me,_ can I? I can't put emotion into that. That's not my style of music."

"You can put emotion into anything if you feel emotions about it," Jace said matter-of-factly. "Let's go, guys. Iz, don't burn Magnus Bane's apartment down."

"Hide the matches," Izzy not-so-subtly whisper-shouted to Camille, who made a point of slow-motion running into the kitchen. She opened the cabinet, took out a bag of chocolate chips, and ate a handful. Then she came back and said in the same tone: "Mission accomplished."

"Do I want to know?" Magnus asked with a ridiculous expression on his face.

"Nope!" The girls chorused, faces almost splitting under the pressure of their ear-to-ear grins. Magnus shook his head, took Alec's hand, and followed Jace outside.

The drive back to Alec's apartment was sort of awkward, due to the fact that Magnus and Alec couldn't have a conversation without Jace butting in with sexual innuendos whenever one of them opened their mouth. Eventually Jace made a comment causing Alec to shout "_Jace!_" In horror, to which Jace replied: "Really, Alec, don't you think the name-screaming should be reserved for Magnus?"

After that (between Magnus' chuckling, Jace's smirking, and Alec's spluttering and blushing), nobody spoke for the rest of the car ride. They arrived at Alec's building soon enough and made their way up to his apartment. He gaped in shock at the destruction. Yesterday morning, he'd woken up here and had been set on his course for a normal life.

"Well, that settles it, Alexander," Magnus said, rather quietly. "You're staying with me until we figure out who's hell-bent on your imminent destruction." He didn't leave it up for negotiation, just stepped over the wreckage and made his way into the kitchen. Jace watched him go.

"Damn," he said. "How does he do it? I'm not sure even Izzy could pull off those heels."

"He's Magnus Bane, Jace," Alec said irritably, following Magnus. He was cleaning up the broken glass on the floor.

"And that!" Jace exclaimed. "That, too! How do you manage to go from awkwardly single older brother to _Magnus Bane's boyfriend_ in a week?"

Alec flushed at the word _boyfriend_, but Magnus just called back, "With very little effort!"

"Not helping, Bane!" Jace hollered, even though they were well within normal-volume distance.

"Good thing I wasn't trying to help!" Magnus yelled. "Alexander, tell your brother to be quiet. All his chattering is doing nothing good for my complexion."

Alec rolled his eyes heavenward and marched off to check his bedroom. Strangely enough, it wasn't demolished. Sure, the one picture he'd had of himself and Sebastian in high school was cracked on the floor, but everything else seemed to be in order. On his bed was a piece of paper with a note, written in a handwriting that had maybe, at one point, been familiar.

_Alexander—_

_As one who writes, you should surely know your poetry. _

"_I am afraid of tears and laughter,_

_And men that laugh and weep_

_Of what may come hereafter_

_For the men that sow to reap:_

_I am weary of days and hours,_

_Blown buds of barren flowers,_

_Desires and dreams and powers_

_And everything but sleep."_

_It is up to you to deduce meaning from this poem. Some may say it is about immortality, yes? Things… magical beings, like vampires or warlocks or fairies… are immortal. Things like them may find deeper meaning in a poem. In 1878, a man told another man that he did not know what it feels to be immortal. And the other man did not ask whether he knew it himself. Only things like them are capable of blind trust. _

_I know what you have been shoving down into your fragile head, Alexander. I know it all. And I will prove it. _

_Ciao._

Alec folded the paper and creased it, white in the face. He sat down and noticed another letter on his pillow, written in less of a curling hand and more of your standard young man's handwriting. Confused, he lifted it.

The words _I'm sorry_ were written all down the page, starting neat and spiraling down. The bottom of the page was damp with what looked like teardrops. He ran his finger over the words, feeling the pain they carried. Alec sighed heavily, almost drowning out the creaking noise from above. He only just managed to leap out of the way before his ceiling light crashed down right where his head would've been. He quickly exited the room, ignoring the way the door fell down behind him. He grabbed his sketchbooks and computer from the table in the hall; surprisingly, they hadn't been touched, and shoved them into his backpack along with his paintbrushes. When he returned to the main room, the mess had been mostly cleaned up and Jace and Magnus were sitting at the table in the kitchen. Magnus was once again writing lyrics on his arm with his blue ballpoint pen and humming under his breath, drumming the fingers of the hand he was scribbling on against the table in an unorganized drumbeat. Jace was simply staring at him. Alec didn't think he was even blinking.

"Bruh, does he always write songs like this?" Jace inquired when he sensed Alec behind him. "With the tapping and humming and writing on himself?"

"Sure," Alec shrugged. "He did it in Alicafé. I don't know if all of his songs are written that way."

"Most of my best are," Magnus grinned, looking up. "_Blue Eyes_ was."

The mention of that song made Alec blush, his thoughts returning to the park, the warmth, the rain, _Magnus_, Magnus' hands, his lips, his body… _fuck_, he thought, pressing the heels of his hands to his temples. Magnus grinned wider.

"_Blue Eyes_?" Jace looked confused. "I might not know all of your songs by heart, but I've never heard of one called _Blue Eyes._"

"That's because it hasn't been released yet," Magnus said cheerfully.

"Then how does Alec know it?" Jace, for all the gold in his skin, eyes, and hair, was apparently not the brightest thing around. Both Magnus and Alec waited patiently. "Oh! Alec listened to it from you! I bet you wrote it about him, too!"

"Very perceptive, Jace," Alec chuckled.

"Indeed," Magnus agreed.

"Hey, I can be perspective sometimes," Jace drawled, and Alec had no idea if he knew he'd said the wrong word or if he just didn't care. "It's one of my many talents."

"Along with grammar and vocabulary," Magnus muttered under his breath. "Alexander, what are those?"

"They were on my bed," he shrugged, tossing the letters onto the table. Magnus picked up the _I'm sorry_ one first, read it quickly, and dismissed it, picking up the second one. While he read it, Jace turned to Alec.

"Why do you let him call you Alexander?" He complained.

"I don't," he shrugged. "He just does. And it's not like it sounds horrible either when he says it," he admitted, looking down. Jace smirked. Magnus finished reading the letter, and his eyes had widened to the approximate size of Neptune.

"I know this handwriting," he said. "Someone used to write me letters all the time, asking odd things about my manager. I didn't know who it was, and I still don't. Neither does Aline, I don't think, but I'm sure we could ask her."

"Aline _Penhallow_?" Alec exclaimed.

"Yes, why?"

"She's one of my best friends," he laughed. "Me and my dad's problem with me was what got her together with her girlfriend, Helen Blackthorn. This entire situation just keeps getting better and better."

"Helen Blackthorn? Like, drummer for _The Blackthorns_?"

"Helen and her siblings do have a band," Jace pointed out, snatching the letters from Magnus. "Who signs letters with _ciao_? And this has to be a girl. No guy has handwriting like this." He shuffled the paper behind the other letter, and he paled. "I know who wrote this one, Alec, the one with the _sorrys_."

"What? Whose handwriting is it?"

Jace's voice was dreary as he replied: "Jonathan Morgenstern's."

* * *

(A/N: I was going to end it there, but I did promise I'd have Robert in this chapter, so skipping ahead to their lunch!)

* * *

"I'm nervous," Jace declared as they sat down.

"Who are you, and what have you done with Jace?" Alec asked jokingly.

"I'm a psychopath with practically the same name as Jace who was secretly pretending to be Sebastian Verlac all along, and I've now revealed my true identity as Jonathan Morgenstern," he explained dramatically.

"Woah," Izzy laughed, sitting down. "It's _lunch_ with _Dad_. You need to calm down."

"You're being too loud," Alec grumped.

"You need to just stop," Clary called over from the counter.

"Like can you just not," Izzy sang back, and the two of them burst out laughing. Alec rolled his eyes: of course they'd turn everything into a Taylor Swift reference.

"_Cause shade never made anybody less gay,_" they chorused together, glancing at Alec as they did so.

"Who's gay?" A gruff voice sounded, and an even gruffer-looking man stepped into the coffee shop, his demeanor darker than the rain outside. He was not unlike a drop of ink spilt in water: a stain in the clarity: Robert Lightwood in all his glory.

"Adam Lambert," Izzy said quickly. Robert rolled his eyes.

"Yes, Izzy dear, when a man dresses like that you draw the obvious conclusion. It shouldn't come as much of a surprise." He roughly pulled out a chair and laced his fingers together, not even bothering to fake a smile. "So, Alec. Tell me you've got an idea."

"Yes, sir," Alec replied. "Well, it was more Izzy's idea, but there's this—"

"Save it for the press," Robert sighed. "I hope you've come to your senses and moved on from your ridiculous _standing up for Aline_ phase, where you made all of your protagonists… _them_. _Things_."

"Did you seriously just call LGBT people _things_?" Izzy asked, but it wasn't a question.

"I spoke a fact that needed to be spoken," Robert sighed disappointedly. "I can see you're still among a society that allows for these muddled thoughts. You really ought to move out of Alicante with me and your mother. There are actual people out there who will help set you straight." He smirked at his own pun. Alec was trying hard not to dig his fingernails into his palm. He was half tempted to go up to the counter and order Magnus' signature rainbow drink. Luckily, Izzy did it for him. When she got back, drinking it, Robert swiped it out of her hand and threw it into the trash.

"You're paying for that," Izzy said flatly. "It was five dollars. Go give Clary money."

"Even the food you consume is tainted," Robert hissed. "And Alec, you never answered my question."

"No," Alec said. "My main character is a demisexual and panromantic boy whose love interest is bisexual and agender. And no, it never had anything to do with Aline. The LGBT community is highly underrepresented in books."

"That doesn't mean you have to just… give in to their ways. I worry for you, Alec. I fear it may be too late for you three. You are probably corrupted already. I knew for years that Alexander was corrupted, but I never expected you to betray me too, Isabelle and Jace." He stood. "I've failed, it's plain to see." And with that, he exited the shop. The siblings stared after him and it was not only Izzy who laughed when Robert bumped into one certain glittery and makeup-wearing singer. But her laughter died when Robert caught Magnus' arm and spoke to him.

"What do you think you're doing?"

"Getting coffee," Magnus said coolly.

"No, I meant with that stuff," Robert spluttered, waving at Magnus' face. "The makeup. You wanna know what that's called? When a boy wears makeup?"

"I don't know what you call it, but I call it a man being comfortable in his identity," Magnus replied.

"You are a faggot," Robert spat.

"At least I have style," Magnus said, and _hair-flipped_ at Robert as he escaped his grip. Glitter went flying everywhere, coating the floor, the glass door, and Robert. "Now if you'll excuse me, my _boyfriend_ awaits."

Robert stared after him as he sashayed over to Alec and said, "That your dad? Can't say I'm too fond of him."

"Why did you let him _say_ that to you?" Alec said, distressed, as he grabbed Magnus' arms. "Why doesn't it bother you how wrong he is?"

"Because he's the one who's wrong," Magnus answered simply. "He's the one who gets his mouth dirty saying stuff like that. It's a word, Alexander, and I'm the one who decides what it means to me. I could tell you you're a gingerbread man and that would mean something different, but the weight of the meaning is what I can control. Do you know what the actual definition of '_faggot'_ is, Alexander? It is archaic English for a bundle of sticks used for fueling fires. It is only because we let the new definition society has adopted get to us that we are offended."

"He didn't mean it in the archaic English way, though," Alec growled.

"Nobody ever does," Magnus said jovially with a wave of his bejeweled hand. "People have no respect for language nowadays. Now, if you are comfortable with it, I'd rather like to kiss you… you can imagine such an urge after today's events."

Alec looked and saw Robert still standing in the doorway of Alicafé. He felt a pang of anxiety grip him, and so he gripped Magnus' hands tighter.

"I can't kiss you in front of him," he whispered. "Not yet. I'm sorry."

"Do not be sorry, my dearest Alexander!" Magnus exclaimed, spinning away in a whirl of glitter and bright colors. "There will be plenty of time for that later. I must have myself a rainbow drink. Biscuit!" he called to Clary, "My usual!"

"Ten-four, Magnus!" She yelled back, and began to make another one of the rainbow drinks. Robert was striding back over before anyone could blink, and bodily shoved Magnus and Alec apart.

"Careful, Alec, you don't want to breathe the same air as this… _thing_."

"Magnus is not a _thing_!" Izzy cried out, arms spread wide.

"Be quiet!" Robert ordered. "It already contaminated my suit. I shall burn it when I return home. In the meantime, having touched it, you should—"

"_Magnus is not an it,_" Alec growled, looking more dangerous than Magnus had ever seen him. "And neither am I."

"What are you talking about?" Robert actually looked bewildered. "Of course you're not an it. You're not like them. You're not an abomination."

"No, you're right, I'm not," Alec said. "All I am is gay."

Robert blinked at him. "No, you aren't, and until you tell me that, you are not my son either. Tell me you are not a thing, Alexander."

"I am not a thing," Alec said carefully. He seemed to be losing his determination, and now looked like he needed a hug.

"Tell me you are not an it. Not a monster. Not disgusting."

"I am not an it, or a monster, or disgusting," Alec recited.

"Tell me you are not gay."

Alec's silence was deafening.

"Tell me," Robert said, more fiercely. Izzy tried to say something, but he put a hand up to stop her. "No, Isabelle, Alexander has likely hit his head. Alexander, speak. Tell me you are not gay. Tell me the truth."

Alec still did not speak.

Robert slapped him. "TELL ME," he bellowed.

Tears slipped quietly from Alec's cerulean eyes, as though sneaking out of a castle. "You want truth?" He whispered. "Here it is."

And he pulled Magnus close for a desperate, hectic, tearstained kiss. He felt Magnus come alive beneath his hands, arms wrapping tighter around Alec as though to shield him from Robert. Alec needed this. He needed Magnus to always be here, to be his sassy self and jump in headfirst when the world needed to be shaken up. He realized that he never wanted to let go.

And then he was struck across the back of the head, torn roughly from Magnus, and thrown into a table. Magnus was shoved into two people: Alec wasn't sure if they were Jace and Izzy or Ragnor and Cat, who he'd come in with.

"Don't let it touch you," Robert spat. "You are not my son. You are horrible. You are unnatural. You don't belong here." And he turned on his heel and walked out. Alec didn't realize he was crying until Magnus—God, _Magnus_—was there again, wiping tears from his face with his thumb, murmuring to him in a language whose nomenclature was nothing more than pure, unstoppable love.

* * *

**Gah. I HATE ROBERT and I HATE THE WORDS HE USES. If I offended anyone, I profusely apologize. That was not my intention. (Fun fact, the definition Magnus explains is actually true, now you know what people are actually saying when they mean something entirely different). And before you say Alec was OOC, remember that his stuttery and blushy side is actually more prominent in fanfics than it is in the actual series, so don't hate me for that. And that was basically my version of Alec kissing Magnus in front of everybody in CoG, just with an extra violent outburst from Robert…. sorry again.**

**On another note, who's excited to find out what Jonathan had to do with the note? Next chapter, Magnus comforting Alec, and then they go talk to Aline! (Helen will probably be there too).**

**Also, useless fun fact about me: When I came out (I'm pansexual) to my grandmother, she didn't hit me (thankfully) but she didn't even blink when she said "No you're not." And frankly, I didn't know what to do with that. Yep.**

**Have an epic day! Love y'all and thanks for reading this mess of a fanfiction! XD!**


	14. Page 404 and Some Stupid Puns

**A/N: On behalf of my shitty update schedule... I suck. Okay, new chapter. I've been super stressed about school this week, because I guess the teachers decided it would be a great idea to give us a whole ton of work right before spring break…? Oh well.**

**Also, to 2patatesdansunmanteau (did I spell that right?): Thanks for correcting me! I looked up the definition online and decided to trust it, guess I shouldn't have done that XD. You learn something new every day. :)**

* * *

Magnus and Alec were sitting on Magnus' couch, Magnus tracing patterns into Alec's back, patterns that sank into his skin. The author was curled up like a child, his head hidden in Magnus' shoulder. And Magnus was scared, because it felt like he had just woken up, and now the world was running around in a panic and he had no idea what was wrong. He didn't know what Alec needed and he didn't know how to help. He only knew that Alec needed something, but he was still refusing to talk, so Magnus couldn't help him.

The first thing he'd said when they'd returned to the loft was _I need to be mad at someone_. Magnus had told Alec to be mad at him, because if he hadn't stood up to Robert, he wouldn't have hit Alec. Alec had argued that it wasn't Magnus' fault Robert was a bigoted asshole, and that being hit hadn't changed his sexuality. Magnus was relieved that Alec didn't blame him, so he'd just held his arms out. And here they were: cuddled up together with Chairman Meow on Alec's lap and Magnus' arms laced around him.

Alec lifted a hand and traced the blue words on Magnus' arm. "Isn't ink bad for your skin?"

"Yes," Magnus answered. "But it comes off in the shower. How do you think I'm able to keep writing in the same place on my arm every day?"

"Sing this one," Alec suggested, relaxing into Magnus' chest, running his finger over some lyrics on the front of his forearm. Magnus couldn't pretend the touch didn't make him shiver. "I want to hear it."

Magnus cleared his throat, found the pitch, and sang:

"_And no one understands_

_A silence swept the nation_

_Here I thought you'd be my salvation_

_But no one understands_

_At this point I'm not sure I want them to_

_All I want is you_

_Which you don't understand_

_Do you want me to say I'm sorry_

_Well, goddammit, I am sorry_

_For falling so hard in... love with you_

_That I brought you down with me_

_You shouldn't have tried to catch me_

_No one understands._"

He stumbled over the word 'love,' but finished the piece regardless, wondering if Alec had noticed. He knew his boyfriend was tired (he smiled at the word: he could now call Alexander his boyfriend) and not in the best place right now, and besides, it was just a song, right? Right. Magnus didn't fall in love. He loved people, but love didn't have to be romantic. His love for Camille was pure and true, but entirely platonic. He was beginning to love Isabelle as a sister. And as for Jace, well… Magnus loved Jace the way one might love an itch between the shoulder blades, right where you couldn't reach.

"You have such an amazing voice," Alec said softly, still running his thumb over the back of Magnus' wrist. He flipped the singer's arm over and traced the soft skin on the inside of his wrist, where his pulse fluttered, leaning into Alec's touch. "How did I ever find you?"

"Well, my love, if I remember correctly we met in Alicafé, when I told you the drink I'd bought would turn me gay and you just stared at me," Magnus smiled.

"I had grown up in a house where joking like that would get you nowhere good," Alec told him. "So when you marched over to me with your glitter raining off your hair and smiling, I thought nothing good could possibly come of it. Look how wrong I was." He kissed Magnus' jaw. Magnus closed his eyes.

"Alec," he gasped out, and Alec pulled his lips from Magnus' face. Immediately he yearned for them to return. His heart was reaching out for Alec, the way it always did when they were apart. "I have to tell you something."

"Hmm?"

"I think Mala said it best," Magnus began. "'People tell me I have problems. And maybe I do. Maybe I used to not feel anything, or not feel enough. But now I think I feel too much. That's why the world shuns me, because I don't know what I'm doing. But then there's you… I feel like nothing compared to you. I _am_ nothing compared to you. If you asked me how much I care for you, I wouldn't be able to answer, but not because of how little I feel, but because of how much. It's overflowing. I'm overwhelmed. All of me, all of the cells in my body are in love with you, and have been in love with you probably since time began. But even that's not enough. I may be powerful, but I cannot fit all of these feelings inside me. In all of the universes, in all possible fragments of existence, I am in love with you. And yet somehow, I feel so miniscule next to you, because you demand things of me that I don't know I have. You compel everything about me across every plane of being. I am insignificant, but then I look up at you, and… and you love me back… and I feel _godlike_. I didn't know, before I met you, that it was possible to feel this much at once. I thought I might explode. And maybe I did. Maybe these emotions are all explosions, like fireworks. I only wish I could see them.'" He stopped and closed his eyes. "Page 404."

"Did you just…" Alec looked up at Magnus, his voice shaking. "Did you just quote _All the Locked Doors_ at me?"

"Yes, I did," Magnus sighed. "But only because I thought I couldn't say it better than that. Everything I wanted to say to you, Mala put into words. I suppose the best I can do is: Alexander Lightwood, I am in love with you. Pathetically."

"You _glorious_, love-confession-impaired idiot," Alec laughed, stretching up to kiss Magnus. "I love you too. Pathetically."

"I'm so glad," Magnus breathed, his skin tingling as he enveloped Alec in his arms.

But before they could reach a place in which the world didn't exist anymore, Ragnor burst through the door of the loft with an annoyed expression on his face. He slammed the door behind him and began to stomp down the hall to Magnus' guest room.

"Oi, Rags!" He hollered. "Throw me an orange!"

"You get your own bloody orange!" Ragnor yelled back.

"I'm occupied!" Magnus challenged. "You're in the kitchen, anyway!"

"No, I'm not." Ragnor stepped through the doorframe separating the kitchen from the hallway. "And unless your favorite blue-eyed celebrity is on top of you, you can un-occupy yourself and get your own orange."

"Quick, get on top of me," Magnus hissed to Alec. Alec did, flopping into Magnus' lap and pretending to be asleep. Now Magnus couldn't get up if he tried. Ragnor clomped into the living room and stopped short when he saw them.

"Oh. Your favorite blue-eyed celebrity is actually on top of you. I will get you an orange, but only because that's so damn adorable." He went to retrieve the fruit, handing two oranges to Magnus and taking a picture of the two of them. Magnus wondered if he should be concerned about all of the pictures his friends were taking of him and Alec. They hadn't done this with his previous exes. Then again, his previous exes hadn't been sweet angels like Alec, hadn't been good of heart or mind.

"Let me see that," Magnus said, reaching for the phone. "Everybody's been taking pictures of me and Alexander. First Camille, then Izzy, and now you." He snatched Ragnor's phone and looked at the image. It was awfully cute: Alec curled up on his lap, eyes closed, Magnus holding an orange and smiling down at him. He sent the image to his own phone and handed the device back to Ragnor, who smirked and left. Alec sat up.

"Blue-eyed celebrity?" Alec repeated, laughing.

"Well, you do have blue eyes and you are a celebrity," Magnus explained. "I think it's quite the fitting nickname."

"Well, then you're my favorite cat-eyed celebrity," Alec countered, tracing his finger around Magnus' eyes.

Magnus wasn't sure if he was trying to be seductive or not, but either way it was killing him. He closed his eyes.

"We should be arranging to meet with Aline," he sighed.

"You're right," Alec said in the same soft voice, but made no move to stop what he was doing. His index finger trailed along the bridge of Magnus' nose, down to circle his lips, then followed the line of his jaw, up around his left ear, tracing his hairline to his other ear, and then followed the slope of his cheekbone down to the tip of his chin. Magnus felt himself relaxing deeper into the couch. It had been a long few days, he had to admit, and it would be amazing to get a few hours of sleep… with Alec beside him… and he didn't even care that he hadn't gotten to eat his oranges.

"Alright, up!" Alec said with a grin. "I already texted Aline. We're meeting at Alicafé."

"You're sure you can be there again?" Magnus groggily sat up. "After your dad?"

"I'm fine," Alec said.

"Are you sure? Because I'm sure Aline would—"

"I'm _fine_," Alec repeated, perhaps a bit more harshly than he'd intended. Magnus shrugged.

"Alright, dear. To Alicafé we go. Let me just peel this orange real quick before we leave."

They made their way to the coffee shop for the second time that day, Alec still looking a bit tense. Magnus hoped his boyfriend would talk to him eventually. He'd had relationships before where the other person pushed him away when things got crazy, when in reality he'd needed someone to bring him closer. He pulled his ballpoint pen out of his pocket and began to scribble on his arm before the melody was lost. Alec looked at him in confusion.

"I still don't understand why you do that," he laughed.

"It's a way to organize my thoughts, so I don't forget an idea that could turn into something."

"I should start carrying around some pens for you, in case you forget one," Alec offered with a smile.

"That's sweet," Magnus said, and meant it. He looked up at Alec with a smile and put the pen away, opting to lace his fingers through Alec's instead. They walked through the doors of the cafe together, and Aline was there to greet them, wearing a black dress. Her hair was tied back from her wide smile.

"Magnus," she nodded. "And hello, Alec!" She gave him a hug. Magnus watched in amusement as Alec returned the embrace with zero awkwardness: one of the perks of being gay, he supposed, was the ability to hug the girls you were friends with without any weird feelings.

"Love how you're friends with my manager," he laughed.

"I've been friends with him longer than I've been your manager," Aline said, stepping back. "What's up? I assume this isn't related to music, since you brought Alec with you?"

"It's about the person who wrote those letters to you," Magnus answered, pulling the two papers out of his pocket. "We found these in Alexander's apartment this morning. Jace said this one was Jonathan Morgenstern's handwriting, but we have no idea who wrote this one." He held out the second letter, the one with the poem. "I recognized it from those letters you kept getting a couple years ago."

"Yes, it does look like the same handwriting," Aline mused. "And they did sign it with _ciao_. Was there no other indication to who sent it?"

"Nope. No envelope, no signature, nothing," Magnus replied. "It's written on fancy paper, though, with this pattern behind it like on important documents." He poked the center of the page, where four Cs stood out in pale purple ink.

"This looks like the insignia of the Clave," Aline noted in surprise. Magnus didn't know much about the Clave, other than that they were a massive company, a bit shady: they owned practically everything from bookstores to hospitals to museums. It seemed one of them knew Alec personally.

"It's probably my dad, then," Alec said resignedly. "He's worked for the Clave for years and hates gay people."

Magnus took his hand again, squeezing it affectionately.

"Why now, though?" Aline looked confused. "If you're right, and it is Robert, why would he start with the letters again? The last one I got was last year."

"No idea," Alec shrugged.

"Could it have something to do with the person who crashed your car?" Magnus wondered. "And could that tie into this next letter, with the _I'm sorry'_s?"

"Maybe, but Jace said this was Jonathan Morgenstern's handwriting," Alec reminded him.

"Jonathan is Clary's brother, right? We can talk to him about that." Magnus looked at Clary, who was laughing as she took a customer's order. Her red hair was like liquid fire as it poured down from her head, bouncing with every movement. Her brother looked nothing like her, with his white-blond hair and chiseled features, his aloof persona and dark eyes. Magnus then looked at Alec's eyes, the shades of blue that not even nature had to offer, and smiled at him. Maybe nothing was perfect, but Alec was pretty damn close.

"I can't wait for this all to be over," Alec sighed, running his fingers through his thick black hair. Magnus wanted to run his hands through the author's hair too, but figured he wouldn't take too kindly to that in public, especially not after having been slapped and yelled at by his father for a similar display earlier.

"I know, darling," Magnus sympathized, earning a smile from Aline, who had relaxed into a more friendly stance since the beginning of their meeting.

"So tell me: how did you two get together?" She asked, sitting down at a high table. Alec and Magnus joined her.

"Well, babe, it's actually a funny story," Magnus began happily, and recounted the tale for Aline, gesturing with his right hand while Alec played with the rings on his left. He mentioned the odd shock they'd both felt after learning each other's identities and how grateful he was that Alec wasn't treating him any differently because he was a famous singer, and how he was trying to do the same despite Alec being a famous author. Alec said he was doing perfectly. Magnus didn't believe him.

"And he won't let you convince him to write a sequel to _All the Locked Doors?_" Aline looked surprised. "Wow. He must have his heart set on making everybody's life miserable." She poked her friend and smiled, and Alec rolled his eyes.

"Why does everybody want a sequel?" He asked irritably. "I thought people would be happy with the end the way it was."

"Alexander, the end was Killian being brought back to life to live as an angel with Mala, but we never found out what happened to the High Emperor _or_ Elvira."

"God, Elvira scared me," Aline shuddered.

"Elvira wasn't that scary," Alec said.

"Yes she was," Magnus and Aline both protested. "She was an eleven-year-old mastermind who could probably play piano better than me and knew what she wanted and how to get it. That's scary."

"She wasn't supposed to be the bad guy," Alec admitted. "But the writing forces of the universe decided to make her one anyway."

"Really? Cause she was an epic villain," said Magnus. "You could've fooled me."

"Writing is weird," Alec began. "Because the characters come alive. So it's not just me controlling them. They're living their lives and I'm just rushing to write it all out as it happens. It's almost like _they're_ the ones controlling _me_."

"That's deep, love," Magnus said appreciatively. "Do you have any drawings of her?"

"A few," Alec told him. "I can show you when I get the chance. But we need to talk to Jonathan, and figure out this shit with my dad."

"Aye-aye, captain," Magnus laughed, and strolled over to Clary. "Hey, biscuit, what are the chances of me talking to your brother?"

Clary looked confused. "I'm not sure, Mags. I can call him and tell him to get his ass down here, but he's going to ask why."

"Tell him Alexander and I want to talk to him," Magnus shrugged. "That's the truth, in any case."

"Got it." She pulled out her phone and told Maia, her work partner, to man the register for a few minutes. She frowned when Jonathan didn't answer.

"Oh well. I'll call you when he calls back?" She tilted her head in question.

Magnus smiled, nodded, and made his way back to Alec.

* * *

Simon was sitting on the couch in the spacious living room of the cabin, watching TV while he waited for Clary to get home or for Izzy to call him, whichever came first. He knew Jace was in Clary's room, probably designing some sort of building the way he did in his free time, and Jonathan was most likely out doing odd jobs around the property. For the moment, life was as serene as it had been in the park with Isabelle last week, before the crash and before the Magnus Bane Mess had started (That's what he was calling it; Magnus was awesome, but he was disrupting the natural order of life that was Simon's simple daily routine). He wondered if Izzy had booked tickets to Magnus' concert in two weeks. He supposed he would know if he'd bothered to ask her. Oh well.

Raised voices from the back room caused him to realize he'd been wrong about where Jonathan and Jace were. Jonathan was not outside and Jace was not in Clary's room. It sounded like they were both in the library. Simon got to his feet and made his way to the library doors, not sure whether he should go in.

"It's your fault!" Jace was yelling as he aimed a kick at Jonathan's stomach.

"It was an accident!" Jonathan shouted back, punching in the direction of Jace's face. Neither man had actually hit the other yet, it seemed.

"If it had been me, it would've been on purpose," Jace spat. "It was an accident because it was Alec's car!"

"I never meant to hurt Alec!" Jonathan threw a book at Jace, who ducked. The book landed on the floor a few feet from Simon, who looked down and read the title: _They Both Die at the End_. He'd read the book before, when Clary had come to him crying over it. He hadn't been surprised to find that they did, in fact, both die at the end. His first thought was that it was an ominous title. His second thought was that, if Jonathan had wanted to hurt Jace with a book, he should've thrown a heavier one, like _All the Locked Doors_ or _Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix_, which were of similar weight.

"Of course you didn't." Jace sounded rather cocky. "And you wouldn't have if you'd known that it was Alec's car!"

Simon paused. It sounded like Jace was blaming Jonathan for what had happened to Alec, Max, and Sebastian.

"It's not my fault you have the same car," Jonathan snarled. "It's lucky _Simon_ told me the differences, or Alec would've gotten off a lot worse."

"Leave Alec out of this. I know you set the trap for him at his apartment," Jace accused. Simon was even more bewildered than he'd been five seconds ago, which was saying something.

"You idiot," Jonathan snapped. "That wasn't for Alec. I knew he would be at Magnus' or with Max. It was for _you_. I tried to get rid of you, but _no_, you decided to stick around, so I figured another attempt to injure you would keep you away from Clary."

"Who said anything about Clary?" Jace straightened out of his fighting stance, and Jonathan mirrored him.

"She's my little sister, Jace," he sighed. "It was always about her. You're dangerous for her. I didn't want to tell you to leave because she would get mad at me."

"What makes you think she won't, when she finds out about this?"

"I guess I'll just have to stop that from happening," Jonathan said quietly. And he pulled a gun out of his pocket.

Simon was barreling forward before he could even think about what he was doing. His only thought was that Clary would never be the same if Jace was shot, and that he would never be able to live with himself if he didn't do anything. He tackled Jonathan and attempted to wrestle the weapon from his hands. Jace joined the scuffle, leaping into the fray (Simon almost facepalmed at that) in a cloud of anger. The three men grappled for a few moments before a phone ringing cut them all off.

"Dammit, it's Clary again," Jonathan muttered, disengaging from the battle and walking off to answer his phone. In the hurry, he left the gun on the floor. Simon would've laughed if Jace wasn't already picking it up.

"Take this to Luke and tell him what happened. I'll hold him off for as long as I can," he hissed, handing the weapon to Simon.

"Glad to know you'll be playing the hero," Simon sniped, making his way toward the door.

"I don't need to _play_," Jace shot back (Wow, Simon was on a roll with these puns today) and began to stride toward Jonathan. Simon looked at the dangerous item in his hand, checked to make sure it wouldn't fire, and bolted from the library.

* * *

**That definitely took a turn I didn't expect. Love it? Hate it? Want to kill me for it? (Please don't, cause then you'll never know what happens next) Bwahaha. Fun fact about me: I cannot do evil laughs. I just sound silly. But my friend can do a really good terrifying cackle that scares me to death!**

**Ugh, all this talk of death has put me in a dark mood. Hopefully nothing bad happens to any of the other characters! :]**

**As always, thanks for reading! :)**


	15. Ship Names and Answers

**A/N: This was not updated sooner because I started a new Malec fic called Statues of Our Lives. I told myself not to forget about this one and guess what I did. Hooray.**

**Guest (there were two of you so I'm not sure which I'm responding to or if it's the same one) (You're not Sebastian/Jonathan are you? ;P) : Review for 10: Umm well it could hypothetically be Lorenzo, but that wasn't my first thought... I don't think he's actually going to be in this fic. And for review for 14: All will be revealed in the next few chapters! Hope everyone's enjoying this so far! :D!**

**I still own nothing (except Magnus' songs and Alec's book, lol).**

* * *

Ragnor, Catarina, and Camille were sitting in Alicafé, chatting and sipping coffee. Ragnor was awfully tired and couldn't focus on the conversation very well, which led to him missing important chunks of interaction. Eventually the girls noticed, as he knew they inevitably would.

"Rags, what happened?" Cat wondered, putting her hand on his forearm.

"Nothin'," he grumbled. "Just tired. And a bit frustrated with life in general. I was reminded earlier this morning that our dear friend Magnus was banned from Peru, which ultimately ruined my plans for April Fools Day. And I saw Mags snuggling with his boy toy author this morning too, and he made me get him an orange."

"The struggle is real," Camille said sagely. "On another note, Izzy and I made plans to go to the mall and hang out with that hot nerd friend of hers, Sheldon." She giggled. "I'm fairly sure we can convince him to wear a leather jacket."

"Nerds don't wear leather," Ragnor sighed.

"Anyone can wear leather if I force them to," Camille beamed. "See you gorgeous people later!" She got up and began to walk off. "Love you!"

"Love you too, Cam!" Ragnor and Catarina called after her, and she gave them a peace sign above her head as she exited the shop. Then she stopped outside, holding her phone to her ear, and turned around in a panic and rushed back in.

"Never mind," she said breathlessly. "Samuel is not going to be able to meet us. He walked in on Jace and Jonathan fighting, and found out that Jonathan had been after Jace the whole time and that the thing with Alec's car was actually an accident. He's with Luke."

"It was _Jonathan_?" Ragnor raised his eyebrows. "Well, I mean, was he the person to blame for the fact that Alec hasn't gone home yet? He was still at Magnus' place earlier today when I walked in."

"You didn't walk in _on_ anything, did you?" Camille asked with raised eyebrows.

"Alec asleep on Magnus' lap," Ragnor laughed.

"Malec will be the death of me," Camille giggled. Noticing Ragnor's expression, she continued, "I have names for all the relationships, Mister Fell. Malec, Clace, Sizzy, Santiafell… you name it."

"You have a name for me and Raph?" Ragnor crossed his arms.

"You bet your ass I do. Did you get any pictures of them?"

Ragnor grinned and showed her his phone, displaying the adorable picture of Alec curled up with Magnus on the couch.

"OMG!" Camille squealed. "Send those to me! Here, I have some too…" she pulled out her own phone and opened the images she had of Magnus and Alec snuggling in Magnus' bed. He took the phone and scrolled through, coming to some pictures of Alec sitting on the counter, his knees on either side of Magnus' hips, his hands on Magnus' waist. The two men were making out with enough fervor to put _Twilight_ to shame. Ragnor enjoyed a laugh at their expense and handed the phone back to its owner.

"Can I design Magnus' wedding dress?" He snarked.

"Be my guest," Camille said. "I'm gonna go find Izzy and ask for more details on Seigfried. See y'all."

Ragnor and Cat sat in silence for a few moments.

"Isn't his name Simon?" Catarina eventually asked.

"Who?" Ragnor replied.

* * *

"So Izzy just called," Alec said, turning to Magnus. "Jonathan is responsible for my car, but apparently he was intending for it to be _Jace_ that got hurt. At least that's what Simon overheard."

Magnus bit his glittery blue lip. "That would explain the _I'm sorry_ letter—he was actually sorry for hurting you. Why was he trying to hurt Jace, though?"

"I don't know," Alec sighed. "At least that's one less thing keeping me out of my apartment. Based on what Simon said, Jace knows all of this, so he can avoid Jon."

"Do you suppose Clary knows about any of it?" Magnus came to sit across from Alec at the table. "It is her brother we're talking about."

"Why don't we ask Max," Alec suggested. "He was in the car when it happened. He's at Izzy's apartment now, I think."

"You're just dragging me all over the place, aren't you?" Magnus teased, smiling. Alec felt instantly guilty.

"I know, I'm—"

"Alexander, don't apologize," Magnus laughed. "I love spending time with you. Let's go visit your brother."

They laced hands and exited the apartment. Izzy lived not too far from Magnus, so they were able to make it after about ten minutes. Alec knew Izzy wouldn't be home, so he let himself in. Max was sitting on the couch with Julian Blackthorn, who was admiring his bandages carefully. Helen and Aline were sitting on the floor a few feet away, talking quietly.

"Max!" Alec called. Max looked up, grinned, and ran to hug his brother. Alec could hear Magnus chuckling from behind, and Max turned his gaze to the singer.

"You look like a manga character!" He exclaimed. "So cool!"

"Thanks," Magnus said confusedly.

"Are you Alec's boyfriend?" Max wondered innocently.

"Yep," Magnus smiled. "I hear you like to draw?"

"Yeah!" Max broke away from the hug and ran to fetch his sketchbook. "I made pictures for Alec's characters! You know he writes, right? But it's a secret, so you can't tell _anybody_."

Magnus made a big show of zipping his lips. "Promise. Can I see your drawings?"

While Max flipped to his art of Mala and Killian, and some of Elvira, Alec looked up to see Julian staring at Magnus.

"That's Magnus Bane," he stammered. "That is _the_ Magnus Bane."

Magnus looked up. "And _that's_ Helen Blackthorn," he said, pointing to Julian's older sister. Alec realized he'd forgotten that Helen was just as famous as Magnus.

"Yeah, but she's just my sister. You're, like, super-famous. And Max is right: you do look like a manga character. A very glittery one."

Alec laughed at his friend and brother's interaction with Magnus. "Max, I have to ask you some questions, if that's alright?"

"Sure!" Max popped up, almost hitting Magnus in the nose, and returned to sit next to Julian. "About what?"

"About the car crash," Alec began nervously. "I wasn't there when it first happened, so I don't know exactly what happened."

"Well, you went in to tell Jace we were there. I got out too, but waited for Sebastian to follow you inside. He said he was going to put the car away and started driving into the garage. He was taking a while and so I went in to see what was happening, I saw him and Jonathan talking and then Jonathan did something to the car—I couldn't see, and Sebastian dropped the bags he was holding and opened the door. The car started rolling backwards." He looked up yet again.

Alec didn't know what to say, and was saved by Magnus nodding encouragingly. Comforted, Max continued. "Sebastian tripped and fell but didn't let go. I think he was stuck or something. The car rolled past me and I ran after Sebastian, and I grabbed his foot, and he told me to try to get his sleeve out of the door or to get in and pull the emergency brake, but I didn't know where that is, so I climbed up onto the car and tried to get his sleeve out. Someone ran past us and I don't know what happened next but then we were falling, Sebastian's head went in a weird direction and there was a lot of blood and then I was stuck on a tree branch." He took a breath and Julian rubbed his back. "And then I woke up in the hospital."

Alec went and hugged his little brother. "Thank you, Max. Does Clary know any of this?"

"Clary? No, she was inside with you and Jace," Max said. "I only told the doctors and Luke and you."

"Alright," Alec said.

"Magnus, will you sing a song for us?" Julian blurted. Magnus chuckled.

"Sure, which one?"

"_Open Door_," Julian answered immediately. Magnus cleared his throat.

"_Is there more, oh you ask me_

_Well the answer is yes_

_There is more, there is more_

_But don't stand there waiting_

_It just ran out the door_

_It's your choice to follow, I'll be right behind you_

_Our feet snapping twigs and our worries in two."_

Alec smiled at Magnus' enthusiasm as he sang, making gestures with his arms and hands with the words.

"_When the end finds you, don't let it catch you off-guard_

_Go after it with a sharp stick if you want to_

_This forest is yours_

_Don't choose to ignore _

_The trees that might stand in your way_

_And don't stop, for the wolves of the night might just find you_

_There's no telling whether they'll like what they see_

_Don't think about all of the monsters behind you_

_If you don't turn around, behind you they'll stay_

_I've been through that forest_

_Came out in several pieces_

_But the creatures of the night, they can't hurt me no more_

_If you want adventure,_

_Just open the door."_

He wrapped up the song and grinned at Julian's wide eyes.

"So cool," the boy breathed. "We're going to your concert! I can't wait to tell my friends and the rest of my siblings and Emma that I actually met you _and_ that you're dating Alec!"

"Wow, Alexander, you really have known these people forever, haven't you?"

"You let him call you Alexander?" Helen butted in before Alec could respond. "Wow. Points for you. Nobody else gets that honor."

"There are a couple more honors nobody else gets when it comes to _Alexander_," Magnus said slyly, emphasizing the name as he waggled his eyebrows. Alec's face heated up, which Helen saw with a laugh.

"You boys are too cute," said Helen. "Alec, have you been back to your apartment?"

"Yeah—we went this morning," Alec told her. "Trashed. I haven't been back since then, but I guess I should go, right?"

"Yes, but not alone."

"He's not going anywhere without me," Magnus said firmly, taking Alec's hand.

"Possessive much?" Aline teased, leaning her head on Helen's shoulder. "Was there anything else you needed?"

"Nope. When this is all sorted out, you guys are welcome over at my place too. Tell Izzy I said hi." Alec turned, gave Max one last hug, and made to exit, seeing Magnus fist-bumping an elated Julian behind him.

* * *

**A/N: I'll get the next chapter up soon, promise. Or maybe I won't. We shall see.**


	16. Sadness, Fetishes, and Break-Ins

**A/N: I'm back… that took way too long. I need to get my shit together, don't I? Anyways… I've been having issues with my computer lately. So blame that if you wanna blame something. This chapter is a bit of a filler because honestly, I'm tired and I needed to write some Malec fluff. And besides, a few days need to pass in the story for the plot to pick back up.**

**The merging spell I've been working on still hasn't turned me into Cassandra Clare, so I don't own Alec or Magnus or anything else. I own Magnus' songs and Alec's book and characters (Clay's mom, Clay, Jason, Jade, Killian, Mala, anyone else I mention who isn't from TMI). Yep. Great. Back to working on the merging spell. Sorry this chapter is pretty short.**

* * *

That night, after returning from searching Alec's apartment one last time, Magnus insisted that the author stay at his apartment again. Alec, not wanting to be a burden to Magnus, made up some excuse about Jace and now sat, rather miserable, on his couch alone. Why hadn't he just agreed and stayed over? He wanted Magnus snuggles. _Wow, that sounded very childish_, he thought immediately, and then: _Childish or not, I don't care: I do want Magnus snuggles_.

His laptop sat forgotten in his lap. He'd been on a writing streak, churning out pages like he hadn't done in weeks. His characters were on the brink of discovering the point of the sudden freezing weather; the only thing stopping them was that Clay still had to get away from his mom's persisting that they talk about what was going on with him. Alec wasn't sure whether Clay, being gay, edgy, and strong-willed, would snap at his mom or freak out. _Or maybe he'll _come _out_, Alec thought suddenly. _He hasn't done that yet, I don't think. Not to his mom, at least._ Once Clay's problems with his mom were sorted out, there was nothing stopping him from getting the stack of books Jade needed to talk to the ghost character who'd been causing all of the problems.

He looked down at his sketchbook and decided to draw Clay with everything he was probably thinking during the scene, along with any possible facial expressions he could make. Facial expressions were a great way to know a character—and a real person, for that matter. Magnus made some pretty epic facial expressions himself, usually involving exaggerated movements of his eyebrows. Jace squinted his eyes when he was serious or when he was trying not to laugh. Izzy had five different smiles for different occasions. Simon got fidgety and didn't look at someone when he was nervous. Alec didn't know what his own face did based on his emotions, but he knew if his friends and family could tell what he was thinking, his expressions would have to be pretty distinctive.

Before he knew what he was doing, his hand was moving to map out the planes of a face that was not Clay's. The face took shape, a shy but gleaming smile, laughing brown eyes, messy blond hair. _Sebastian_. And then tears were dripping down Alec's face. He set the book aside before he could smudge the drawing and wiped his eyes. He would never see Sebastian again.

He contemplated calling Magnus, then realized that if he wanted his lie to be believable, he couldn't. _To hell with believable_, he thought, and surprising himself with his own fierceness, he clicked the call button under Magnus' contact. His hand shook as he brought the phone to his ear.

"Alexander?"

Alec could only cry.

"Alexander, what's wrong? Is there anything I can do? I'm coming over." He heard some shuffling, as though Magnus was putting a coat on. "If only I could teleport," the singer muttered under his breath. "Or better yet, walk through a glowing purple gateway and be at your side in an instant." A door slammed. "But no, I'm not a warlock, am I, so I have to drive the normal way." A car door opened and closed. "Fear not, my dear Alexander, I am on my way."

Alec hadn't said a word through this whole exchange. He wanted to tell Magnus not to worry this much, but he was touched that he did, and _he needed Magnus_.

Five minutes later, Magnus blew through the door of the apartment and was holding Alec before Alec could blink. Magnus didn't say anything for a while, but then he noticed the drawing Alec had done of Sebastian, and hugged him tighter.

"Alexander, I can only begin to imagine how much you miss him. I know you meant a lot to each other and that part of you loves him and will always love him. I know you don't want me to say I'm sorry, but I am. Sorry that I haven't invented a time machine yet to travel back and stop you from driving up that mountain. Sorry that I don't know how to help you through this."

"You are," Alec sniffed. "Helping me. By being here like this." He swung his legs up over Magnus' lap and curled into his embrace. Magnus kissed his forehead.

"Well, I'm glad I could be useful," he smiled.

"Hmm," Alec almost purred into Magnus' neck. He felt rather like a cat, and he could not say he minded much. Magnus loved cats.

"Darling, is there something else bothering you?"

"Just life being complicated," Alec sighed. "Writer's block. I can't draw without my mind wandering to places I don't want it to. Six of your songs are stuck in my head. I'm tired but I can't sleep. I'm hungry but the thought of eating makes me sick. I…" he closed his eyes and snuggled closer to his boyfriend. "I just need to be hugged."

Magnus shifted on the couch so that he was lying on his back with Alec on his chest, a similar position to how they'd woken up that morning. But Magnus probably wouldn't be falling asleep anytime soon, and Alec knew it. Alec also knew that Magnus was likely thinking of a different situation in which Alec might be on top of him.

"_I don't wanna wake up_

_From a world where the light catches_

_The shadows as they dance_

_As prominent as flames along the outline of your face_

_I don't wanna wake up_

_From a world where the bright colors_

_Just come flooding out of you_

_As you go dancing in the rain, dying from laughter_

_And I see you smiling through the tears_

_I don't wanna wake up_," Magnus sang softly, rubbing circles on Alec's back. Alec felt himself slipping into sleep and nuzzled Magnus' neck.

"Thank you for being here," he breathed.

"I wouldn't be anywhere else," Magnus replied.

* * *

Alec woke up the next morning in the same position, resting against Magnus' body. He smiled, glad to know that _someone _cared enough to stay with him for as long as he needed and then some. He stretched, arching his back against Magnus, and remembered something Killian had done to Mala after they'd first kissed. He reached his hands up into Magnus' hair and pulled, not too forcefully but definitely firmly. Magnus hummed approvingly, tipping his head back, so Alec grinned and began to play with his boyfriend's hair, letting it slide through his fingers and curl around his hands. He grabbed two fistfuls of it and pulled again, a bit harder, causing Magnus to moan pathetically. Alec laughed at him and kissed him on the cheek.

"You, good sir," he said through his laughter, kissing Magnus' nose, "Have a fetish."

"I don't know what you're talking about," Magnus managed to say, his head still tipped back. Alec, being the cruel man he was, pulled his hair again. Magnus actually _growled_ at him, put his hands on Alec's waist, and flipped him over on the couch. He then sat on the author's stomach, eyes dark with something that made Alec want to hide from him as well as ravish him. His glitter-painted nails dug into Alec's chest.

"You will pay for that," he said, and leaned down. Their kisses were messy and needy; Alec could tell Magnus was obviously flustered from the hair-pulling and it was making him lose his self-control. He was fully prepared and ready to make out with his boyfriend for the better part of an hour, but he was not expecting Magnus to break off after a few minutes and bite down on Alec's neck, then licked the curve where his jaw turned toward his ear. The biting was certainly hot, and felt wonderful, but it was nothing compared to the licking. It was Alec's turn to moan, and Magnus pulled away to laugh.

"You, _good sir_, have a fetish," he repeated Alec's words with a smirk. Alec groaned and Magnus went back to slowly licking his neck, from the hollow above his collarbone up to his jaw.

Before their lips could meet again, a loud crashing sound came from the direction of Alec's bedroom, and both men jumped, Magnus getting off of Alec slowly. They stared at each other nervously for a moment, and the sound came again. It sounded like someone was breaking windows and slamming furniture around. Alec got up and headed toward his bedroom, hearing Magnus follow close behind him. Magnus shoved in front of him before they entered, but nobody was there. Alec looked and saw a figure dropping from the window, but why anyone would do that was past him; they were ten stories up. He rushed to the window and looked down.

Someone was hurrying away, hands tucked into the pockets of a heavy coat. Alec couldn't tell who it was based on appearance, but the way the man walked seemed _very_ familiar.

"Oh God," he breathed, and Magnus placed a hand on his back.

"What is it, love?"

Alec took a deep breath before answering. "That was Sebastian Verlac."

* * *

**A/N: Okay! Done with that! Now that my computer isn't glitching anymore, I can actually write. I have a couple other Malec stories going, one is already posted and the others are in process and I will put them up when I'm done with this one. I hope everyone's having a good day! **

**My school district is closed because of the corona virus, so I will have a lot of extra writing time these next couple weeks. I know it can be annoying when authors go for long periods of time without updating so I will strive to be better. **


	17. Confusion and a Bit of Necromancy

**A/N: I'm estimating somewhere between 25-30 chapters for this? Yes, I am going to actually include Magnus' concert and Alec may publish another book at some point (that means a time skip—I'm still figuring it out) but for now, all that matters is giving you guys some answers.**

**Disclaimer: I wonder if Cassandra Clare reads these and laughs at everybody clarifying that they are not, in fact, her.**

* * *

"Sebastian Verlac?" Magnus repeated in shock. "The one who… _died_?"

"Yes," Alec answered. "I know that jacket. It's mine, but it's the one I don't normally wear, so I kept it around for him." His shoulders were drawn up in tension as he leaned on the windowsill. "And I know the way he walks. There's no one else it could've been."

"They said his neck was snapped." The only thing Magnus could feel now was _disoriented_.

Alec's blue eyes—the eyes Magnus had fallen in love with along with the rest of Alec—were dark as he thought. "No. The one nurse said his neck was snapped, but she wasn't actually in the room with the surgeons at the time. She told us what she'd been told."

"So you think one of the doctors lied?"

"That's one of the only explanations," Alec said. "The other is that he was dead, but became a vampire."

"I should set him up with Camille," Magnus said, but the joke was lost somewhere between his lips and Alec. "So he's not dead. Why was he in here? Why did he come in through the window and leave when we got here? I thought you two were friends."

"I thought so too," Alec frowned. "I hate it when real life starts to act like a book. Things like this are always what you'd think happens to someone else."

"Unfortunately," Magnus added, "I believe to someone else, we're _all_ someone else."

"That really shouldn't make so much sense," Alec smiled ruefully.

"Whyever not?" Magnus leaned over to kiss Alec on the cheek. "I always make sense."

"No you don't."

"Fair enough. But I _am_ a songwriter; I don't have to make sense."

"Did you ever write any of your songs not knowing what it was about?" Alec asked, turning to look at him. Magnus thought about that. He'd definitely written some songs and not known why he'd written them, but he always found meaning in them. He turned to Alec and said just that.

"Okay, but which songs did you write without knowing why?"

"_Alive_, definitely, and _Are You Here_, and there's probably more than I can't think of now."

"Is _Alive_ a newer one?" Alec asked. "I'm not sure I know it."

"Yes, it hasn't been released yet," Magnus smirked. "But I will be a generous boyfriend and sing some of it to you."

"Why thank you," Alec chuckled.

"_Let me come alive behind your eyes_

_It's two a.m. and I'm starting to cry_

_It's starting to storm and I'm starting to wonder_

_Is it just me or is the world shaking from thunder_

_Let me come inside_

_Let me come alive_

_How long can I keep running_

_I fear what I'm becoming_

_You're laughing but it's not funny_

_There are feathers dropping off my torn-up wings_

_And the the sky is crying too hard to sing_," Magnus sang quietly, taking Alec's hand. "Sometimes I'll have a mood swing and just write to fit my mood."

"I do that too," Alec said. "With my books." He leaned in and kissed Magnus, and Magnus felt like he was floating. "And I love your songs."

"I'm glad," said Magnus, leaning in to capture Alec's lips again, relishing in the hum of contentment the author emitted as he did so.

* * *

Izzy and Camille were holding hands and panicking with Simon on their way to Alec's apartment. The sidewalks here in Alicante were wide enough so that the third person didn't have to walk behind the other two, so Simon was walking on Izzy's other side. She wouldn't have minded it if he wanted to hold her hand too, but his hands were stuffed in his pockets.

Someone came running down the sidewalk and shouldered his way between Izzy and Simon, jostling both of them. Izzy caught a glimpse of his profile and gasped loudly, her arm reaching out to grasp his arm before she thought about it.

"_Sebastian?_" She squeaked. He looked horrified for a moment, then masked it and hugged her tightly. She felt his hand slipping lower on her back and was about to shove him away when he slipped something into her pocket and quickly withdrew his hand. It felt like an envelope.

"I'm so sorry, Isabelle," he told her. "It was for Alec's safety. I promise that will explain everything, but you have to wait until later to read it, okay?"

"Were you just with Alec?" She looked at the apartment building.

"He didn't know I was there. I had to get something from his apartment and I figured it would be better if he didn't see me. I wanted to avoid questions."

"What did you have to get?" Izzy wondered.

"Well, paper for the letter, for one," he grinned. "I also had to give Max's sketchbook back to Alec, so I left it on his desk. And Robert bugged his watch, so I took that." He held up the item. "Don't tell him you saw me. The glittery guy is there with him right now, so he's okay."

"That would be his boyfriend, Magnus," Izzy said. Sebastian smiled.

"I wish I could've had the pleasure of meeting him," he said. "Sadly, Alec can't know I'm alive, so I cannot meet his boyfriend. I'm sure I would've liked him."

"You would. He's awesome," Izzy smiled, and Camille squeezed her hand in appreciation.

"But the doctors said you broke your neck and died," Simon finally butted in. Sebastian had the good grace to look guilty.

"Yes, I know they did. After Jonathan crashed the car, he came into the hospital to visit me and convinced me to make sure everyone thought I was dead. He hacked the monitors so the doctors would think I was dead, and when they took me out, I just escaped the morgue… that's another reason I was at Alec's. I needed new clothes." He smirked. "I promise I'm not up to evil or scandalous activities, Isabelle. If you want to know why Jon wanted me to be dead but not really dead, ask him."

"I don't want to talk to that bastard," Izzy spat.

"Understandable. I have to go, in any case." He planted a kiss on her forehead, clapped Simon's shoulder, nodded to Camille, and walked on.

"_That_ was Alec's dead ex?" Camille asked as they entered the building. "Normally I would've slapped anyone who broke up with Alec, but he seemed so nice!"

"He and Alec didn't have a breakup that qualifies as a breakup. They just decided it would be better to be friends since Sebastian went to college in California. Sebastian found someone else and so did Alec, but those two will always be friends. At least…" she frowned. "Before the whole dead-not-dead thing."

She knocked on Alec's door, and when nobody answered, she opened it. Alec had a bad habit of not locking his door, despite the fact that he'd literally written a book called _All the Locked Doors_. Then again, _All the Locked Doors_ wasn't about locked doors. All of the doors in it were metaphorical, except for one: the Gate, which stood between the High Kingdom and the Lower Kingdom.

Alec's living room was vacant, a sketchbook with a picture of Sebastian open on the coffee table, along with his half-closed computer. There was nobody in the kitchen either, so she went down the hall and shoved his bedroom door open, realizing too late that if Magnus was with him, the bedroom door might be closed for a reason.

She poked her head in and saw Magnus pressing Alec up against the wall, their shapes melted together into one, their colors mixing in ways that Isabelle had never imagined possible. Alec's black and white with Magnus' explosive rainbow, meshing as though neither was complete without the other. They were kissing more passionately than Izzy thought even she had ever experienced, because she'd felt desire before, but she'd never been as catastrophically in love as Alec and Magnus obviously were: lips molding fiercely to each other's, Magnus' hands pinning Alec's to the wall above his head, their fingers laced together. Alec was absentmindedly playing with the rings on Magnus' fingers. They were making sounds that Izzy didn't particularly want to hear, especially since the man pinned against the wall was _her brother._

Magnus let go of Alec's hands and put his own hands up Alec's shirt, and Alec's hands fisted into Magnus' hair, twisting and pulling it. When Alec's fingers came free, glitter rained down with them. Isabelle cleared her throat—probably too quietly, because although Magnus and Alec's faces separated for a moment, they went right back in, and Alec's hands went back into Magnus' hair, and Magnus arched his body into Alec's, and Isabelle definitely wanted to walk away, but she didn't. She knocked loudly on the wall next to them, and they froze comically, turning to look at her.

Alec looked terrified, and Magnus looked amused, but they both looked dazed and their eyes both had lust-filled glints in them. Alec's lips and cheeks were smeared with Magnus' red lip gloss, which she knew would prompt vampire jokes from Camille, and he hurriedly pulled his shirt back down as Magnus, with equally-smeared lip gloss, attempted to fix his hair.

"How long have you been standing there?" Alec asked shakily.

"Long enough," Izzy smirked. "You two are hot. Come on, Camille and Simon are here."

Alec cursed and followed his sister and boyfriend into the living room. Camille was smirking winningly when she noticed their state, but Alec wasn't in the mood to be embarrassed.

"Izzy, I saw Sebastian leaving here earlier, wearing the coat I keep here for him. I know he was dead, but—"

"He isn't dead," Simon interrupted. "We just saw him outside. Jonathan hacked his monitors so the doctors would think he was dead and tell you that."

"Why?" Alec crossed his arms. Magnus pulled him over to the couch, he sat down, and Magnus sat with his legs thrown over Alec's lap.

"I know you two probably want to get back to voraciously making out like crazed lunatics, so I'll make this fast," she said, sitting down on Camille's armrest. Alec blushed at her comment, but she ignored him. "We were just intending to pay you a visit and make sure you were alright—which you clearly were—but when we saw Sebastian, he said a couple things. Jonathan is clearly much more involved in this than we thought. And he took your watch because apparently Dad bugged it."

"What?" Alec looked confused. "When would he have had the chance to do that?"

"Maybe when he left the letter," Magnus suggested. "We are fairly sure that was him, aren't we?"

"Yes," Alec agreed.

"Speaking of letters…" Izzy said, pulling the envelope Sebastian had given her out of her pocket. She unfolded it and began to read aloud.

—

"_Dearest Isabelle—_

_I'm so sorry for making everyone think I was dead. I cannot tell you where I'm going, but I'm dealing with Jonathan. Promise. Tell Alec I will always miss him, because there's no way I will ever be able to tell him myself._

_Alec cannot look for me. If he asks why, tell him 'Elvira.' He will understand. And I will explain it so you will understand: Elvira, in his book, had to hide herself away because of her curse. In the end it didn't matter, because the magic corrupted her, but she was trying to protect Mala. Because she loved him. Because I love you and Alec, and all those you love too, it is necessary that I stay away forever._

_I believe Magnus Bane has a song that perfectly describes my situation. It's called Pray for the Lost. Listen to it sometime, and you will understand._

_On another note, if you want to talk to the doctor involved in all of this, his name is Christopher. I'm sure that if you have any questions, he could answer them. He knows I'm not dead. _

_Yours most sincerely,_

_Sebastian."_

_—_

Izzy set the letter on the table and looked around at her friends: Alec and Magnus looking surprised, Camille sitting perfectly still, smoothing the wrinkles in her white skirt, Simon playing with the hem of his t-shirt (which Isabelle finally took a moment to read: it was black with white text saying _C12H22O11*,We're Goin Down_. She didn't get it, but Magnus apparently did. Maybe it was music-related or something).

"Magnus?" She asked. "What song was he talking about?"

Magnus cleared his throat. "Pray for the Lost," he answered. "I'll sing the part he was referring to for you.

_I'm not quite in the mood to lose myself right now_

_I suppose I'll wait until the world is burning down around me_

_Can't you see_

_You're better off without me_

_There are two kinds of men in this world, my love_

_Those who accidentally leave a wave of terror behind them_

_And those who surf that wave with a smile on their face because_

_They've lost themselves, oh too soon, too soon_

_Not all those who wander are lost_

_But I've been lost for a thousand years _

_And I'll be lost for a thousand more_

_Haven't I heard that somewhere before?"_

Alec was smiling in a ridiculously sweet way at his boyfriend when he finished the piece and Isabelle wondered exactly how madly in love Alec was.

"You write a lot of songs about being lost, Magnus," she noted. He looked at her with a sad smile.

"I write about what's in my heart, Isabelle," he said. "Luckily, I found my heart. And I gave it to Alec for safekeeping." He turned a sappy look on Alec, and Camille put her hand over her heart while Simon just raised his eyebrows.

"Well," Alec said, "I suppose we ought to find that doctor. Does anyone know a doctor named Christopher?"

"No," answered Magnus slowly. "But I think I know someone who does."

* * *

**And…. done! That wasn't exactly what I expected of this chapter. The next one should be up soon, promise ^_^ . Review? Pretty please with Malec on top?**

***C12H22O11 We're Goin Down is a reference to the name of a song. The numbers are supposed to be subscript but fanfiction doesn't allow subscript. If you want to know what it means, look it up. And listen to it. It's a good song.**

**Have a nice day!**


	18. Doctors, Maybe?

**Okay. I realize it's been a month, and I'm sorry, but I suffered terribly from writer's block and fucking QUARANTINE, so you could say my life is not as it should be right now. I apologize profusely and will try to get the next chapter up sooner than later. *smacks self on head* Bad Dobby. (Sorry I had to) (I'm not really sorry)**

* * *

And that was how the entire group ended up heading to the hospital that very afternoon. Tessa Gray was reading a ridiculously long book behind the desk while Will and Jem chatted behind her, laughing together over something on Will's phone.

"Oh, Christopher? He must've meant Kit Herondale. He's William's cousin."

"He could be my deranged ex Imasu's mother's cousin, and I'd still need to talk to him," Magnus said. "It's about Sebastian Verlac."

Tessa did not slam her book closed the way many people might. Instead, she dog-eared the page and _then_ slammed it closed. She stood and marched off down the hall. Will and Jem exchanged a glance, shrugged simultaneously, and looked back down at Will's phone. Tessa returned with a young man in tow. He moved with a grace that Magnus thought seemed like a dancer, but the dance he was caught in was one of danger, of broken glass and nails.

"This is Kit Herondale, everyone," she said. "He was Sebastian's doctor."

Kit waved, his face emotionless.

"Why did you tell us Sebastian was dead?" Jace asked, crossing his arms.

"His monitor said he was dead," Kit replied. "And so that's what I told Tessa, but then when I went back later, I saw him alive, sitting up, still connected to the machines that said he was dead, talking to another dude."

"Who was this other dude?" Simon wondered.

"I don't know," said Kit. "I didn't see his face. He was wearing really baggy clothes that made it impossible to see anything about him."

"Well," Izzy reminded them, "Sebastian said Jonathan had been in the room with him after he made it look like he was dead."

"Jonathan who?" Kit raised one of his eyebrows.

"Morgenstern," answered Jace.

"Never heard of him," Kit frowned. "Anyway, I opened the door to… well, I'm not sure what I would've done, since Sebastian's records already said he was dead, but as soon as I opened the door, the hoodie guy, Jonathan, was gone."

"So you never talked to him," Alec clarified.

"No, of course not." Kit looked confused, and he probably was. "I said he was gone. I couldn't have talked to him."

"Looks like we need to talk to Jonathan," Jace sighed.

* * *

"Back so soon?" Jonathan smirked, leaning back in his chair. Jace, Magnus, and Alec were the only ones who'd gone to the cabin. Izzy and the others had opted to miss out on the drama and went to the mall with Cat and Ragnor instead.

"You don't seem surprised," said Jace coldly.

"I'm not," Jonathan grinned widely. "I figured it would only be a matter of time before you found out about Sebastian and decided to pin that on me too after the whole Jace thing, which Clary and I talked about and I am receiving punishment for."

"Are you going to deny being in that room?" Magnus wondered, crossing his arms.

"Of course not," Jonathan scoffed. "Why deny the truth? I'll tell you what you want to know. I tried to get rid of Jace because I wanted to protect my sister. I told Alec I was sorry for what happened to him. When I was in his room writing my note, three men came in: Robert Lightwood, your dad, right, Alec, and my dad, Valentine Morgenstern, and another man I didn't know, but Robert called him 'Rook.' Robert acknowledged my existence and left his note on Alec's bed, and the other two left, saying something about a coverup. Robert told me that it wouldn't do much harm if I continued to mess with Alec, because he said you deserved it, Alec, so obviously I did, and destroyed your apartment."

"So Dad's working with some guy called Rook and Val?" Jace looked even more confused. Alec was shaking his head, because he'd thought things couldn't get any more crazy. "And what's this about a coverup?"

"No idea," Jonathan told him boredly. "Get out of my house."

Alec, Magnus, and Jace obeyed, exiting the cabin and trudging towards Jace's car.

"What the _actual_ fuck," Magnus said once they were all seated and driving away. Nobody really knew how to respond to that, but they didn't exactly need to. Afterall, such a sentence was the perfect way to describe what had just happened.

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**A/N: I could've made this longer, but I figured you guys didn't want to wait for another few days. I promise I'll have the next chapter up within a reasonable amount of time. Until then, have a great day!**


	19. Magnus' Concert

**A/N: Hi everyone! School's almost out, so hopefully I'll be writing more afterward! I apologize for the month of disappearing off the face of the earth, but here's the next chapter. Hope you enjoy it. :)**

**This chapter is mostly just Magnus' concert—I don't know how many of you really wanted to read this, but it's not just cliche fluff! You heard me right: I COMBINED FLUFF AND PLOT. And no, I'm not sure how I did it. *giggles awkwardly***

**Disclaimers: The usual I-don't-own-Cassandra-Clare's-stuff-but-I-do-own-Alec's-book-characters-and-Magnus'-songs warning you're probably getting tired of reading**

* * *

The next week and a half passed rather quickly, and nobody found out anything else about any kind of coverup. Simon wanted to forget about it for the night, and Alec was happy to oblige, but Izzy and Camille had their scheming faces on, making him worry about what they might do as soon as they got their hands on a clue.

Tonight was Magnus' concert, and they were crowded together in front of the stage, waiting for him to appear and sing.

Alec watched, apprehensively, as Magnus just stood there in front of the mic. The lights reflected off all the glitter on his body, but Alec couldn't help but feel as though it was reflecting off the singer as well. Whether that was due to him shining or him shutting everything out, he couldn't say. The only thing he knew for sure was that Magnus was nervous.

"I suppose this is the part where I make an impressive speech," he said slowly. "Where I thank you all for coming here tonight, where I flirt with each and every one of you at the same time. Where I put on a show, an act, that says I don't need anyone and that I am perfect." He smirked at that, causing the audience to laugh, but Magnus' eyes were not laughing. "I owe everyone an apology," he continued. "You've always said my songs were so full of emotion. I always thought they were, too. But I fell in love." He smiled then, a true smile, a smile that outshone the blinding lights above. "And that showed me that what I thought I'd been feeling was nothing compared to what I _could_ feel. I fell in love, and I wondered how I've been alive so long without noticing that I hadn't been living at all."

He took a deep breath. "I fell in love, and I will never be able to fake any feelings ever again. So I am sorry, because everything is real now. All the emotions in my songs. When I take a picture of me that says I'm the luckiest man alive… it's because I am. But not because of my career or my fashion sense or anything I could ever own. And being in love is the best thing that could possibly happen to me."

The stage blurred. Everything blurred. Alec wondered if the lights were getting to his head, but then a tear slid off his chin, more flooded down his face, and he smiled up at Magnus, crying his eyes—and all of his worries—out.

"I wrote this song for my wonderful boyfriend," Magnus said. "It's called _Need Someone_. This one's for you, my love." And then Magnus began to sing.

"_Oxygen and boxed-in problems_

_Can't get enough of one_

_And I'm overflowing with the other_

_Wish I could put my feelings in a box as well_

_And turn it around so the label's facing in_

_Nobody wins_

_Trying to cut the losses, too many unlabeled boxes_

_Of too many unsolvable problems_

_I'm overwhelmed_

_I think this attic is haunted, don't wanna be up here alone_

_Don't let me be alone_

_I know I'll lose my mind, so I'm afraid to let it roam_

_Don't let me be alone"_

Alec looked around at everybody dancing. Magnus' voice was enchanting, magnetic, just like him. He wouldn't be surprised if, by the end of the night, everyone had fallen in love with Magnus Bane the way they did every time he breathed. It had certainly been like that with Alec, but he wouldn't have it any other way.

"_You knocked on my door_

_Blue scarf and cheeky smile_

_Dear god, I love your smile_

_You offered your help and I didn't know how to take it_

_My arms were already so full_

_And I'm scared I'm gonna break it_

_You walked up to the attic and I was scared I wouldn't make it_

_Almost collapsed on the way up_

_But then your arms wrapped around me_

_You said 'it's okay to need me'_

_It's okay to need me_

_And now you're making coffee_

_You like it black, you're smiling simply_

_Like I'm not a problem you can put in a box and put away_

_At the end of the day, I think I love you_

_May I please love you?_

_Help me, help me_

_All I need is someone to love me."_

Alec, buried under the weight of references to him, found himself suddenly unable to breathe. He realized Magnus had taken Jace's advice and written a song about needing someone to love him. Alec didn't realize how much he'd impacted Magnus until that moment. He had never truly grasped how broken the two of them were, but now, looking at them together, it was insane that they were broken in just the right places to fit so seamlessly together.

"_Electricity and city lights left on too late_

_Both can burn or blind me_

_Both can be turned off_

_Wish I could stick a lightswitch to my feelings as well_

_And turn them off, and leave them in the dark_

_Vulnerable hearts_

_Are the easiest to shatter, wish I could believe I matter_

_No matter how many times you tell me_

_I think this world is haunted, don't wanna be here alone_

_Don't let me be alone_

_I know I'll be kicked out, so I'm afraid to go home_

_Don't let me be alone."_

"_You knocked on my door_

_Blue scarf and cheeky smile_

_Dear god, I love your smile_

_You offered your heart and I didn't know how to take it_

_My arms are already so full_

_And I'm scared I'm gonna break it_

_You walked into the music and I was scared I wouldn't make it_

_I collapsed on the downbeat_

_But then your arms wrapped around me_

_You said 'it's okay to need me'_

_It's okay to need me_

_And now you're singing softly_

_Don't know the words, you're smiling simply_

_Like I'm the opposite of a problem you should want to shove away_

_You should want to shove me away_

_So why don't you? _

_I think I love you_

_May I please love you?_

_Help me, help me_

_All I need is someone to love me_

_But then your arms wrapped around me_

_You said it's okay to need me_

_It's okay to need me_

_And now we're dancing slowly_

_Laughing and smiling simply_

_You're the best thing that ever happened to me_

_How did I get so lucky_

_You wrapped your blue scarf around my neck_

_And then you kissed me_

_And then you said you need me_

_You said I make you feel like you are flying_

_I think that's where I broke down crying."_

Alec began to laugh. He remembered that happening with perfect clarity, using the scarf Magnus had given him to pull his boyfriend into a kiss. Magnus had burst into tears that day, too. Alec tightened the scarf around his neck, smiling. He noticed some people looking at him, the tears and smile on his face, the blue scarf. He saw them seeing him, and he found he didn't mind. Nobody whispered, but he felt the questions, and they didn't crush him anymore. They uplifted him. He turned his attention back to Magnus.

"_It hurts to say these words more than anything I've done_

_It hurts to have feelings where there used to be none_

_I'm so vulnerable without the walls you knocked down_

_But I'm glad you knocked them down_

_Because if it hadn't been for you I would still be_

_Stuck up in my attic, trying to find me_

_In the boxes of lies that say all I need is glitter_

_I need you to love me_

_Can you please tell me you love me?_

_And can you tell me again, and again, and again_

_Until I fall asleep_

_Hold me, hold me_

_I think I've finally found someone who loves me_

_I've finally found someone who loves me_

_All I need is someone to love me."_

And the audience exploded into shrieks and cheers, and Magnus was crying as his eyes searched the crowd for Alec, who was standing as tall as he possibly could, his hands cupped around his mouth, screaming across the sea of people to Magnus, telling him he loved him. _I've finally found someone who loves me_, he thought again, smiling as his eyes met Magnus' across the vast expanse of silhouettes. They held each other's gazes, and it suddenly felt to Alec that there was no distance between them at all.

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**A/N: Yay! Done with that chapter! I probably won't post the next one until after school ends. I've written the last chapter, but not the chapters between this one and that one. UGH. I need to think ahead. Until then, I'll be doing homework, reading, writing when I can, and listening to way too much Fall Out Boy. Hope everyone's having a good day!**


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